Belgian InBev's $46B Bid For Anheuser-Busch

ST. LOUIS — Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation's biggest brewery, received a purchase offer Wednesday from a Belgian brewer that might be too good to refuse.

Anheuser-Busch reported late Wednesday that InBev SA gave it an unsolicited bid to buy the company for roughly $46 billion. It's unclear whether senior Anheuser-Busch executives think the deal makes sense, but shareholders may be drawn to the offer _ $65 a share, a steep premium over the company's closing price of $58.35 Wednesday.

"Anheuser-Busch said that its board of directors will evaluate the proposal carefully and in the context of all relevant factors, including Anheuser-Busch's long-term strategic plan," the company said in a statement. "The board will pursue the course of action that is in the best interests of Anheuser-Busch's stockholders."

A spokeswoman said the company would not comment beyond the statement.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that a takeover bid was coming. The beer industry has been consolidating in recent years amid rising ingredient costs and stale demand in the United States.

Shares of the U.S. brewer soared 7.6 percent to $62.80 after hours, when the announcement was made. They had risen 2 percent in late-afternoon trading, when rumors of the deal were reported on CNBC.

Opposition to a potential takeover has already been fierce in Anheuser-Busch's hometown of St. Louis, and elsewhere in the U.S. The brewer employs 6,000 people in St. Louis, and many workers are worried InBev would cut jobs as the companies consolidate.

Web sites have sprung up opposing the deal on patriotic grounds, arguing that such an iconic U.S. firm shouldn't be handed over to foreign ownership.

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On the Net: Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.: http://www.anheuser-busch.com

(This version CORRECTS Corrects price of deal. UPDATES throughout with background, details. Will be led. )

Comments

[larry278]

I don't care about Bud but Busch Bavarian is not to be fouled up with natural ingrediants or traditional brewing methods. Those Belgiun people could be artsy craftsy & make Busch Bavarian like a micro-brew. You don't want that in something your going to puke on your truck's door. Bud tastes like rice. Busch Bavarian tastes like it was made from grain that an elevator or co-op couldn't sell & gm hops. That is an American beer.
larry lynch

[iambusto]

Let the board consider whats best for the shareholders. Thats what they are paid to do.

If the public doesnt want the board to look out for shareholders maybe the company shouldnt have gone public.

Same as in yahoo. Why do these companies go public anyway? They should just stay private.

But then these liberals whine when the private equity companies take these companies private. There is no pleasing these morons.

[KarateKid]

Maybe the new owners will make a better beer. Americans have become more discriminating consumers, and there are many microbrews that quite frankly taste better.

As far as I'm concerned, the NASCAR bunch can drink all the Bud they wish, I won't touch that lousy tasting, or should I say, no tasting beer.

In Europe, I have never had a lousy beer.

[biwee]

To bail out their criminal buddies on Wall street, the FED has destroyed the dollar. This makes
things here CHEAP. Which puts America up for sale. This is of no concern to NeoCons, and Republicans. The blind hatred and ignorance of these morons who got us into the Iraq disaster
will cost this nation more than you realize. The sad thing is that Obama, who will be the next Prez, has no plan to fix any of this mess.

[ErnestineBass]

OOOOK, so please enlighten us about McCaint's plan to fix this mess.

[uglicoyote]

I don't hate Bud and, as someone pointed out, it is made by union workers.I hope they all keep their jobs.

Over the years I have developed a more refined taste for beer. I drink craft beers and micro-brews when I buy beer, but I also make my own. I make a killer honey-wheat with a 6-7% alcohol content. I have just bottled a nut-brown ale but won't open the first bottle for a few days. I make it in five gallon batches and share with my friends.
The Belgians make some of the best beer in the world but this particular mega-company is about profits, not brewing. If any of their breweries make decent beer, its coincidental.

Patronize your local brew-pub and micro brewer. Brew your own. Relax, and have a beer.

[huffnpuffn]

Somehow I'm ok with this. Maybe they'll run it into the ground like Mercedes-Benz did to Chrysler. Less rice beer isn't such a bad thing.

[markophonic]

You may not like Budwieser...but it is ANOTHER huge american company that is being sold off to a foriegn nation...all so some investors (mostly the wealthy ones with lots of stock) can make a few quick bucks.

We need to stop selling our country.

We are already financial slaves to the chinese.

[ErnestineBass]

I can't get too worked up about AB's sale.
It doesn't affect our national security.
But Chinese or Indian ownership of our steel and aluminum mills? THAT worries me.

[HatingTheGame]

Well at least one thing that we can be happy about is that Muslims won't be buying our alcohol -- they can buy our ports, our buildings, our banks, and our women, but won't touch the liquor.

Whew! Something is protected from worldwide Islamofascism.

LOL

[chefmike]

Older bud no wiser and hows your bush.

As Monty Python once remarked: What does American beer and making love in a canoe have in commom? Both are F*cking close to water. Luckilyse to Canada where they make real beer.

[OlskoolDem]

I hope they but it and take it back to Europe with them, Bud = Yuck

[WeaselsRippedmyFlesh]

I can't for the life of me understand why Budweiser is the king of beers. If I was dying of thirst I would drink toilet water before I'd drink Budweiser.

[elgrande]

I don't know if this is good or bad for beer lovers, but it does demonstrate how recreational drugs can exist in a legal environment. During alcohol prohibition, when thugs like Al Capone were in charge of this toxic, addictive drug, a merger like this would have been a bloody, violent turf war. We see that situation now along our borders and in our cities thanks to current prohibition laws.

[easyrider1969]

I wouldn't drink Bud if it was the last beer on earth. Bud sucks.

[mydogshakespeare]

Foreigners buying American assets is the natural consequence of our trade deficit and addiction to oil. So many dollars accumulate in foreign hands, and naturally the holders want to buy. Get used to it.

[1differentdrummer]

And the $ gets cheaper and cheaper. Thanks, Republicans.

[ErnestineBass]

The "New World" of their "New World Order"?

It's gonna be flat, kids.

That was their plan all along.

[jubo]

Here we go throwing that 'foreign' word around again.

How friendlier a place the world would be were happymakers legal.