7th Oct 2015 08:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - Anheuser-Busch InBev NV on Wednesday said it has tabled an offer to SABMiller PLC, having seen two other informal offers rejected, and said it thinks its new bid should be "highly attractive" to SABMiller shareholders.
SABMiller responded by saying it will meet to discuss the new bids, after confirming it had rejected the previous offers as the board felt they undervalued the company.
Shares in SABMiller were up 1.5% to 3,676.50 pence on Wednesday.
The Belgian-American brewing giant said it has made a bid valuing Anglo-South African SABMiller at 4,215p per share, valuing SABMiller at GBP68.2 billion overall. AB InBev said it has had two informal offers for SABMiller, of 3,800p and 4,000p, rejected. It said it was "disappointed" SABMiller's board had rejected the two previous approaches "without any meaningful engagement".
AB InBev said the revised proposal should be highly attractive to SABMiller shareholders, representing a 44% premium to SABMiller's share price on September 14, when the talks between the two were first revealed following press reports that the world's two largest brewers could merge.
"AB InBev believes that the revised cash proposal of 4,215 pence per share is at a level that the board of SABMiller should recommend," AB InBev said.
AB InBev's confidence in the takeover offer was nearly immediately backed by Altria, the US tobacco company and a major shareholder in SABMiller. Altria said in a statement on Wednesday morning that it supports the current takeover bid and has called on the SABMiller board to "engage promptly and constructively with AB InBev" in order to agree terms on a recommended offer.
SABMiller later issued a statement confirming it had rejected AB InBev's previous offers and said it will convene a board meeting as soon as practicable to discuss the increased 4,215p per share bid.
The company also noted the takeover offer from AB InBev comprises a cash offer of up to 42.15p per share, plus up to 326 million shares in AB InBev. The stock element of the deal would take the form of a separate class of AB InBev shares, which would be unlisted, subject to a five-year lock-up and convertible into AB InBev shares at the end of that period.
While saying it will discuss the takeover offer, the board of SABMiller also said it was confident it will be able to create substantial shareholder value as a standalone company.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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