Dive Brief:
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SABMiller board members recommended that shareholders approve Anheuser-Busch InBev's offer of £45 per share, which would allow the more-than $100 billion deal to be completed. In a statement, AB InBev said the deal is expected to close this year.
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Earlier Friday, AB InBev has received approval from Chinese regulators for its takeover bid of SABMiller, which included selling SABMiller's stake in CR Snow.
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SABMiller's two largest shareholders, U.S. tobacco company Altria Group and Colombia's Santo Domingo family, plan to accept the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Dive Insight:
Shareholders of AB InBev and SABMiller now get their chance to vote on the deal, which is the last step to its completion.
"In reaching its decision, the board has considered the best interests of the company as a whole and has taken into account all salient facts and circumstances. The board has also received extensive shareholder feedback and considered the views of our financial advisers," SABMiller Chairman Jan du Plessis said in a statement.
Shareholders remain mixed on how the deal measures up, since the British sterling has dropped significantly following the Brexit vote in June. Some shareholders have said that the deal undervalues the company, whicl others are embracing it.
Advancement of this deal comes at a good time for AB InBev, which is the world's largest brewer. The company reported Friday that overall revenue dropped 2.2% to $10.81 billion in the second quarter. Total beer volumes dipped 1.7%. Not including currency fluctuations, organic revenue inched up 4% on higher pricing strategies. In Brussels trading Friday, shares rose 4.6%.
SABMiller also offers AB InBev critical market access in the Latin American and African regions, which are opportunities for growth as AB InBev has seen sales taper off in the U.S. market.
AB InBev's quarterly net profit seemed to have plunged to $152 million from $1.93 billion a year earlier. But the declining value of the British sterling is at play here, along with one-time finance costs related to the SABMiller deal. However, SABMiller shares trading in London were up 2.1%.
Earlier this week, Anheuser-Busch InBev increased its bid for SABMiller to £45 per share from the original £44 per share bid. But even with the increased bid per share, the total deal value currently sits at about $104 billion, still below the approximately $108 billion value the deal carried back in November. AB InBev also raised the cash portion of its partial-share offer by 88 pence — about $1.15 — per share, but that deal had increased in value on its own because AB InBev’s shares are based in the euro.