EU Clears AB InBev's Takeover of SABMiller
May 24 2016 - 12:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Natalia Drozdiak
BRUSSELS--The European Union on Tuesday approved Anheuser Busch
InBev NV's roughly $108 billion takeover of rival SABMiller PLC
(SAB.LN) on the condition the brewer sheds almost all of
SABMiller's European assets.
The European Commission, the bloc's antitrust agency, said it
initially had concerns the deal would have led to higher prices and
would have made tacit co-ordination among rival brewers more
likely, but added that AB InBev's concessions assuaged those
worries.
Belgium-based AB InBev has pledged to sell its European premium
brands Peroni and Grolsch, as well as British craft-beer brand
Meantime, to Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. in an offer valued at around
$2.9 billion. It also said it would shed SABMiller's Central and
Eastern European assets, but hasn't yet found a buyer for
those.
The commission's decision to clear the deal is conditional upon
AB InBev disposing the assets, the EU said.
"Today's decision will ensure that competition is not weakened
in these markets and that EU consumers are not worse off," said EU
antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.
The AB InBev-SABMiller merger, which executives hope to close by
the second half of this year, would create the world's biggest beer
group with about 30% of the global market.
The deal, announced in November, has also drawn scrutiny from
antitrust regulators in the U.S., China and South Africa, as well
as other markets.
In central and eastern Europe, AB InBev has offered up all of
SABMiller's assets in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia
and Poland, which includes the rights to Pilsner Urquell outside
the U.S. Within the U.S., AB InBev has already agreed to sell
Pilsner Urquell to Molson Coors Brewing Co. as part of a larger
deal divesting SABMiller's stake in its joint venture in
MillerCoors with Molson.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 24, 2016 12:16 ET (16:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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