AB InBev makes fresh $104 bln bid for SABMiller

If the companies did tie up, it would combine AB InBev’s dominance in Latin America with SABMiller’s Africa presence, where it is the market leader in 15 countries.

“How long will it be before shareholders see a value of over £42 in the absence of an offer from AB InBev?” asked Brito in his statement.

AB InBev had also offered the availability of a partial share alternative for about 41% of the SABMiller shares, which AB InBev said has allowed it to bid at a higher price than it would otherwise be able to.

“We believe this represents a good deal for SAB shareholders and ultimately we expect a deal to be agreed”, he said.

Its suitor AB InBev has a 155,000-strong global workforce and makes more than 47.1 billion U.S. dollars (£30.5 billion) in global revenues.

AB InBev doesn’t have “tremendous room” to raise the price, because the cost savings from this purchase won’t be as big as in the brewer’s past acquisitions, he said. Given the size of the financing and SABMiller’s United Kingdom listing, AB InBev will need to outline details to show certainty of funds when it makes a formal offer, several bankers said.

AB InBev announced yesterday morning that it had made the third offer (following two bids made and rejected in private).

Earlier, SABMiller chairman Jan du Plessis said his firm is the “crown jewel of the global brewing industry”.

However, SAB Miller’s largest shareholder, Altria Group, has come out in support of the latest offer.

SABMiller shareholders rejected two previous offers at 38 pounds and then 40 pounds and analysts said they may well do the same again.

The latest offer values SABMiller at $103.9 billion and AB InBev says the SAB board has already rejected offers at $57.96 per share and $61 per share.

“The completed deal will give AB InBev a 29 percent market share, which is a 20 percentage point lead over the next biggest brewer, Heineken”, Cunnington said.

If a deal is agreed it would create a drinks giant worth more than £180bn and rank among the top 10 takeovers in global corporate history.

Any talk of a union between Budweiser and Miller – in fact, any talk of the creation of beer behemoth reaching all parts of the globe for that matter – should be put off for now as the owners of two of the world’s most famous beers continue to haggle over the terms of a merger. In a released statement, AB InBev “believes that this transaction would be in the best interests of both companies”.

AB InBev is the result of a series of mergers, most recently between leading United States brewer Anheuser-Busch and InBev in 2008.