Anheuser-Busch sells out at $70 a share

Posted on 12:00, July 13th, 2008 by Al

It is being widely reported this weekend that InBev has increased their offer to $70 per share for Anheuser-Busch, and that the A-B Board of Directors is prepared to accept the offer.

InBev had recently begun a campaign to unseat the current Board. But, apparently confident the deal will go through, InBev has already begun setting up the loans it will need to finance the deal.

Belgian brewer would pay $70 a share

An official announcement will probably be made Monday.

There are still plenty of folks opposed to the deal. Some, however, haven’t completely thought things through.

This Bud Might Not Be for Them

Jordan Moore took the news that his beloved Budweiser could soon fall into foreign hands very personally: He decided he would scrap his plan to get the logo of the King of Beers tattooed on his right rib cage.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” said the 21-year-old concrete worker during his lunch break at The Brick of St. Louis bar, in the shadow of this city’s storied Anheuser-Busch Cos. brewery, “if Budweiser is made by a different country, I don’t drink Budweiser anymore. I’ll go back to Wild Turkey.” (Wild Turkey, a Kentucky bourbon, is owned by French drinks giant Pernod Ricard SA.)

InBev logoI’ll bet he also shops at Wal-Mart, where just about everything in there is manufactured in China. (Except for some of the display racks. I know they’re made in the U.S. because my brother makes them.)

Expect there to be continuing resistance from political corners as well.

InBev Raises Its Offer for Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser’s about-face risks raising the hackles of Missouri politicians and customers who rallied to the brewer’s side as it sought to fight off the unwanted advances. InBev sought to head off criticism by promising to keep the combined company’s headquarters in St. Louis and to maintain “the Anheuser-Busch heritage” in the new entity’s name.

That did little to assuage Matthew R. Blunt, the governor of Missouri, who said he was “strongly opposed” to an InBev takeover of Anheuser. Last month, he requested a review of the offer by the Federal Trade Commission.

“I am concerned that this sale would have destabilizing impacts on our nation and state’s long-term economic interests,” Mr. Blunt wrote in a letter to the regulator. “I am opposed to this buyout and am asking you to conduct this review as quickly as possible.”

Anheuser’s political support crossed party lines. Mr. Blunt and Christopher S. Bond, Missouri’s Republican senator, were joined by two of the state’s top Democrats: the state’s other United States senator, Claire McCaskill, and Mayor Francis G. Slay of St. Louis.

Mr. Bond said, “InBev buying Anheuser-Busch is as popular in St. Louis as $4 gas.”

And perhaps just as inevitable.

Once again, it looks like the only winners in this deal are shareholders.

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Comments

Luke Niemeier on 30 July, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Gravatar for Anonymous

I was hopin it never came to this, but Coors it is….

Al on 31 July, 2008 at 1:13 pm
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You understand that Coors merged with Molson a couple years back, right?

Try a craft brew.

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