The head of Belgian brewer InBev NV visited Capitol Hill Tuesday to promote his company’s takeover of Anheuser-Busch to skeptical lawmakers and told reporters the $65 a share offer is the highest it would bid. At that price per share, the deal would be worth about $46.3 billion.
At the meeting Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said: “I explained to them that I would do everything I could to stop this sale from going through.” She added: “It’s very unclear that any of us (members of Congress) can do anything at this point” other than to express displeasure.
This is true as is does not look like any regulatory clearance is needed in the deal. InBev would combine breweries that operate in different geographic markets and thus not violate antitrust laws.
Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company controlled by billionaire (and American icon in his own right) Warren Buffett, may bank a $600 million profit if InBev NV succeeds in its takeover of Budweiser-maker Anheuser-Busch. Some news outlets have reported that Buffett committed to support the takeover. Buffett’s company owns 35.56 million shares of BUD (NYSE), which is roughly 5%.
Perhaps even worse speculation right now is that Grupo Modelo, already 50 percent owned by Anheuser, is expected to block any attempt by them to buy full control as a defensive move (this would make Modelo an American company, not a Mexican company, which their CEO is vocally against). Analysts say the most likely outcome is that Modelo will embrace InBev’s bid for Anheuser and hope the Belgian brewer proves to be a better partner than the biggest U.S. brewer.
So where does this leave us?
Well, we think it’s finally official… we need to strike. Details to follow.
News Sources culled for this post:
Reuters.com
ap.google.com
Bloomberg.com
USAtoday.com
