Anheuser-Busch InBev Files Application for Hong Kong IPO of Its Asian Beer Business
September 11 2019 - 9:37PM
Dow Jones News
By P.R.Venkat
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (ABI.BT) is planning to tap the Hong
Kong market again to list its Asian beer business after calling off
its nearly $10 billion initial public offering two months ago.
Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. which will be the listed entity
on the Hong Kong bourse if the IPO is successful said Thursday that
there is no assurance that the company will proceed with the
offering.
The draft prospectus filed Thursday didn't detail the size of
the offering or the timing of the IPO.
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are advising the company on the
IPO.
Budweiser Brewing, which sells beers such as Budweiser, Stella
Artois, Corona and Hoegaarden, had in July cited market conditions
for calling off the Hong Kong IPO, which, if successful, would have
been the year's biggest IPO.
People familiar with the IPO plans had said in July that several
prospective investors found the deal expensive and valuations
high.
Since calling off the deal, the parent AB InBev, the world's
biggest brewer, has been looking to sell some of its assets. In
July, the company agreed to sell its Australian unit to Asahi Group
Holdings Ltd. for $11.3 billion.
AB InBev, which makes one out of every four beers sold
world-wide, owns hundreds of brands in dozens of countries after a
global buying spree that gave it Budweiser, Stella Artois and
Corona. But those deals saddled the Belgian brewer with about $100
billion in debt; meanwhile, beer sales have slowed in the U.S. and
other major markets.
Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2019 21:22 ET (01:22 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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