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UK: Beer merger gains SABMiller board approval

By  |  July 31, 2016

SABMiller’s board unanimously recommended Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s improved $104 billion takeover offer, paving the way for the beer industry’s biggest acquisition in the history and capping a tumultuous week in which the Budweiser maker bowed to pressure to sweeten its offer.

SABMiller’s board faced the choice of backing the bid that chairman Jan du Plessis said was at the “lower end” of what he deemed acceptable, or risk letting the industry-transforming combination fall apart. AB InBev gave in to some investors when it raised its bid once more this week to factor in the pound’s plunge in the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote.

SABMiller shares rose 2.1% to 44.14 pounds Friday in London after the announcement, while AB InBev rose 4.6% to 115.30 euros in Brussels.

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