South Africa: Antitrust regulator asks for new AB InBev extension

South Africa’s Competition Commission will ask for a new extension to its investigation into Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s proposed 73.4 billion pounds takeover of fellow brewer SABMiller Plc, after the regulator failed to complete the probe by Thursday’s deadline.

“The Commission will not be issuing a decision on the merger today,” the regulator’s spokesman, Itumeleng Lesofe, said by text message, without providing reasons for the delay.

South Africa is just one of the countries where Leuven, Belgium-based AB InBev is battling regulatory authorities in an effort to combine the world’s two biggest brewers, and has agreed to retain a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The company has also agreed with the government to create a 1 billion rand ($66 million) fund that will support the South African beer industry and protect jobs in the country.

The Competition Commission must make a recommendation to the Competition Tribunal, which will then conduct hearings into the deal. The regulator missed two earlier deadlines last month.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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