FT Alphaville always sides with the little guy, even if he carries the surname Busch.

What now for Adolphus Busch IV, the half brother of retired Anheuser-Busch chief executive August Busch III, who stood out publicly and backed the proposed Belgian/Brazilian takeover by Inbev?

Will he even be welcome at his favourite drinkery, Elmers’ Old Town Tavern, near St Peters, Missouri?

At the outset of this bid battle he issued a public letter, cheering InBev on and decrying attempts by his nephew, current Anheuser chief executive August Busch IV, to repel the raiders.

InBev’s Carlos Brito repaid the complement by including Adolphus on the list of putative directors that would sit on the Anheuser board – if and when shareholders had voted off the existing slate.

He was the only Busch so honoured. Indeed, as STLtoday.com notes in this profile of the man, Adolphus was the only St Louisan on that list.
With August now succumbing to the pressure and inviting InBev in to talk terms ($70 plus?), we doubt Adolphus features in the peace talks. Not in any executive power-sharing sense, in any case.

Poor show.

Hopefully, Adolphus will now throw his passion into his other interests, which include the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, a conservation group that battled St. Peters over construction of a four-mile levee in the Mississippi River flood plain. A sunken container ship is also named after Adolphus, which he paid to have scuttled off the Florida coast as an artificial reef for divers.

Sounds much more fun than sacking local St Louis beer workers.

This entry was posted by Paul Murphy on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 16:53 and is filed under M&A, People. Tagged with adolphus busch IV, Anheuser Busch, august busch IV, InBev. Edit this entry.