AB InBev says welcomes United States approval of SABMiller deal

The Justice Department’s antitrust division is expected to announce a settlement agreement later on Wednesday allowing the merger to proceed.

Anheuser reportedly won antitrust approval for the merger today. Among them: AB InBev will inform USA antitrust officials in advance about any craft beer and distributor acquisitions, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The controversial $100 billion takeover of SABMiller by larger rival InBev would create the largest brewer in the world.

Having successfully gotten USA approval, AB InBev’s last hurdle is approval in China, where it has agreed to sell SABMiller’s stake in China’s Snow Breweries to the state-backed China Resources Beer Co. for $1.6 billion.

Conditions include the already-planned sale of SABMiller’s 58 per cent stake in MillerCoors in the U.S. to Molson Coors.

To gain antitrust approval in the US, A-B InBev said when it announced the deal last fall that SABMiller’s 58 percent stake in Chicago-based MillerCoors, a joint venture formed in 2008 with Denver-based Molson Coors to sell Miller, Coors and other brands in the USA, would be sold to Molson Coors.

AB InBev and MillerCoors account for about 70 percent of beer sold in the United States and have share above 90 per cent in some markets.

Craft brewers complained that AB InBev’s incentive system for beer distributors curbed the sale of competing beers by encouraging distributors to carry AB InBev brands.

“It’s a risky game and there’s no certainty that (AB InBev) is willing to raise its offer”, the source said. Other conditions cover wholesalers and distributor volume.

A-B InBev agreed to continue to allow the DOJ to review acquisitions of craft brewers in the USA, a stipulation put in place when the brewer acquired the 50 percent of Mexico’s largest brewer Grupo Modelo it didn’t already own in 2013. It is thought that increasing investor pressure for SAB to seek a higher cash offer from Stella Artois-owner AB InBev will be a topic of discussion.

The company expects the deal to close later this year.

“The U.S. market is very competitive. and nothing in this transaction, in our opinion, will impact that competitiveness”, Neves said.