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US: AB InBev queried on distribution incentives amid merger probe

By  |  May 25, 2016

US antitrust officials are investigating Anheuser-Busch InBev over its new incentives that encourage independent distributors to sell more of its own beer brands at the expense of competing craft brews, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Budweiser owner AB InBev has 45.8 percent of the US beer market but has seen sales dwindle at least partially because of rising craft beer sales.

The US Department of Justice last year probed AB InBev’s plan to buy distributors in response to craft brewers’ complaints that it aimed to curb competition. The purchases of two distributors in California, two in Colorado and one in New York have since closed.

The beer giant introduced the new incentive program at a distributors’ meeting in late 2015, and the US authorities are looking into it as part of its antitrust review of

AB InBev’s planned more than $100 billion takeover of global rival SABMiller PLC , the two people said.

Full Content: Business Insider

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