Johannesburg - Anheuser-Busch InBev won US antitrust approval for its takeover of SABMiller, after the maker of Budweiser agreed to give up ownership of the Miller brand, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.
The Justice Department’s antitrust division was expected to announce a settlement agreement later yesterday allowing the merger. The agreement to allow the brewing juggernauts to combine runs counter to the government’s moves against other big deals in the past year - the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have killed proposed tie-ups in the cable, office supplies and oil drilling industries.
In this case, the companies proposed asset sales from the start that resolved antitrust officials’ concerns that the deal would harm competition.
Shares of Molson Coors Brewing, which will buy SABMiller stake in their joint venture, climbed as much as 1.5 percent in New York on the news.
AB InBev closed down less than 1 percent in Brussels. SABMIller was little changed at £44.25 (R834.36) in London.
AB InBev, already the world’s largest brewer, struck the £77 billion deal, which unites the world’s biggest brewers, to gain SABMiller’s access to emerging markets in Latin America and Africa.
BLOOMBERG