Yesterday, Anheuser-Busch’s Board of Directors rejected InBev’s unsolicited takeover offer. Saying that $65 per share was “financially inadequate”, the Board left open the possibility that a higher offer might sweep them off their feet.

Meanwhile, InBev has stated that it will ask A-B shareholders to dump the current Board. However, some analysts  think that the Belgian/Brazilian titan will sweeten its offer, perhaps as high as $75 per share.

InBev May Need $7 Billion More to Win Over Anheuser

Anheuser-Busch’s rejection of the offer yesterday was the board’s first response since InBev made its unsolicited proposal June 11. InBev said it preferred a friendly combination of its Bass, Beck’s and Stella Artois with Budweiser, while still pursuing an ouster of the board.

A purchase at the current price would be the biggest of a consumer company since Procter & Gamble Co. bought Gillette Co. for $57 billion in 2005.

While Busch told distributors in April that the company wouldn’t be sold while he was in charge, the family doesn’t own enough shares to sway a shareholder vote on the board. Directors and executives hold 4.5 percent of the company’s shares, according to a regulatory filing earlier this year.  

This corporate soap opera continues, with analysts figuring that any more than $67 per share will make the deal unprofitable for InBev. Additionally, A-B is not above dumping some divisions and implementing cost-cutting measures to boost its stock price.

Meanwhile, the fate of thousands of employees–who, in their own way, are beer lovers–hangs in the balance.

Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of Beers of Our Lives.