Beer deal: AB InBev makes EU offer
AB InBev makes an offer to regulators as part of a plan to win quick European approval for its $105bn takeover of SABMiller.
|||Brussels - Anheuser-Busch InBev made an offer to regulators, that may include asset sales, as part of a plan to win quick European approval for its $105 billion takeover of SABMiller.
The European Union set a new May 24 deadline to rule on approving the deal or opening a longer investigation after the companies made an offer last week, regulators said on their website on Tuesday. The EU didn’t say what the companies were prepared to do to allay any antitrust concerns.
Read: Beer deal: SA regulator unlikely to meet deadline
AB InBev is already in talks with Asahi Group Holdings to sell beer brands that might overlap with SABMiller in Europe. A sale would include Peroni and Grolsch beer brands in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK as well as a British craft brewer. Such early concessions involving a sale of a business unit can allow the EU approve a deal quickly without opening a so-called Phase II probe lasting at least four months.
Trevor Stirling, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, said the concessions made to the European Union might include the sales that have already been disclosed.
“I’m at a loss as to what remedies AB InBev can offer in terms of further divestments,” he said in a telephone interview.
Leuven, Belgium-based AB InBev and London-based SABMiller didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
* With assistance from Thomas Buckley
BLOOMBERG