20080715

After A-B, what's next for voracious InBev?

From Business Week.com:

InBev's $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch seems like the merger to end all beer mergers, the climax of several decades of industry consolidation. What could possibly top it?

Well, how's this: A few years from now, after it has digested Anheuser-Busch, InBev joins up with other brewers such as Heineken and Carlsberg and makes a joint bid for giant SABMiller. The companies carve up SABMiller's portfolio, with InBev taking over SAB brands in regions such as Africa, where it is weak.

The scenario may sound far-fetched, but analyst Gerard Rijk at ING Wholesale Banking in Amsterdam points out that SABMiller, which markets Miller beer in the U.S., is the one big brewer still vulnerable to takeover. Heineken's family owners are unlikely to sell, and Carlsberg is controlled by a foundation. The London- and Johannesburg-listed shares of SABMiller, which will lose its status as the world's biggest brewer after the InBev-Anheuser deal, are widely held.

"The big one that's left that can be taken over is SABMiller," Rijk says.

(Go here for the rest of the story.

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