AB InBev, SABMiller reach final deal for massive beer merger

Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch InBev has reached a final agreement to buy SABMiller in a deal worth about$142billion Cdnthat will combine the world's two biggest brewers and create a company that makes almost a third of the beer consumed worldwide.

AB InBev and SABMiller own hundreds of brands, including Budweiser, Corona, Grolsch, Stella Artois and Labatt, a formerly independent Canadian company.

In a separate but related deal, rival Molson Coors will get full control of the Miller business in the United States a longtime rival of Anhauser-Busch and worldwide rights to the Miller brands for $12 billion US by the second quarter of 2016.

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SABMiller agreed to sell its 58 per cent stake in the MillerCoors joint venturein an effort to ease regulatory concerns that AB InBev would have a stranglehold on the U.S. market after the merger. Molson Coors currently owns 42 per cent.

The enlarged AB InBev which does not have a name yet will also need to address regulatory issues in China, which drinks a quarter of the world's beer.

In Canada, the beer market has long been dominated by AB InBev through its ownership of Labatt and MolsonCoors, although the giants have increasingly been challenged by the popularity of smaller local craft brewers.

AB InBev and SABMiller had reached an agreement in principle on Oct. 13 and twice extended the deadline for a formal offer.

One of AB InBev's prizes in creating a global beer company will be to gobble up SABMiller's footprint in Africa. In a conference call with reporters, Brito made note of the potential for growth on the continent, where the middle class is growing.

SABMiller is the descendant of South African Breweries and has stretched its reach across the continent, betting that Africans will shift to higher quality beers as economic development increases disposable income. It had operations in 17 countries on the continent, with another 21 covered by Castel Group, in which it has a stake.