The American government approved the merger between beer companies SABMiller and AB InBev, although it did mention a few conditions to the deal, like a MillerCoors sale.
Wait for China
“Today’s agreement is a significant step forwards towards the deal that will create the world’s largest, actual worldwide brewer”, AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito said in a press release.
In order to get approval for the SABMiller merger, it will have to discard MillerCoors’ activities and move them to Molson Coors. Anheuser-Busch also is not allowed to acquire another distributor if that means it will distribute more than 10 % of its annual beer volume in the United States through distributors it full owns. The Bureau of Competition does this to avoid that smaller beer brands are pushed aside by SABMiller and AB InBev’s merger. Anheuser-Busch is also not allowed cancel any wholesale contract because of the merger.
With American approval, the companies only await China’s approval. Once that is given, the deal can be finalized, something AB InBev and SABMiller hope to do in the second half of 2016.
