Anheuser-Busch, the US brewer of Budweiser beer, said Wednesday it had received an unsolicited $46.3bn takeover bid from rival InBev of Belgium, reports the FT. InBev offered $65 a share in cash for Anheuser, or an 11.4% premium to its share price, which rose 2.1% to $58.35 on Wednesday. InBev would gain control of about one-quarter of the world’s beer market if it buys Anheuser, which accounts for nearly half of US beer sales. InBev said it had lined up a consortium of eight banks, including JPMorgan and Santander, to finance the deal, which could entail at least $40bn in debt and the possible sale of some assets and equity financing. The WSJ adds that InBev is likely to raise about $5bn of equity through a rights offering of its stock.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 5:45 and is filed under Capital markets, M&A. Tagged with anheuser-busch, InBev. Edit this entry.