Dive Brief:
- The Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee will hold a hearing to discuss Anheuser-Busch InBev's takeover bid for SABMiller Dec. 8.
- "The witnesses will be AB InBev chief executive Carlos Brito, Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter, J. Wilson of the Iowa Brewers Guild and Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute, said Conn Carroll, spokesman for Senator Mike Lee, chairman of the subcommittee," Reuters reported.
- AB InBev has already agreed to divest SABMiller's 58% stake in joint venture MillerCoors to partner Molson Coors in hopes of appeasing U.S. regulators. Without divesting that stake, AB InBev's 45% market share in the U.S. would combine with MillerCoors's 25% share.
Dive Insight:
AB InBev could face regulatory hurdles on the way to potential approval for its SABMiller takeover. Craft beer brewers have said that the merger could negatively impact distribution capabilities for them because AB InBev and SABMiller own many distributors and may require those distributors to work only with AB InBev's own flagship and craft brands instead of independent brewers. The merger could also impact the availability of certain ingredients for craft brewers.
Reports recently surfaced that AB InBev plans to divest two of SABMiller's global beer brands, Grolsch and Peroni, to potentially sidestep some regulatory issues in Europe. AB InBev appears to be more focused on SABMiller's local brands and access to emerging markets like Africa and Latin America rather than SABMiller's global brands.