Anheuser-Busch InBev Wants to Be the King of Beer
Raise a glass: the biggest beer merger in history has the blessing of the Department of Justice.
NEW YORK (AP) — Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer maker, announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with the Justice Department that clears the way for U.S. approval of its acquisition of SABMiller.
AB InBev, the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light, will sell SABMiller’s entire U.S. business to Molson Coors as previously announced as part of the agreement. That means Budweiser would continue to compete with Miller beer in the United States.
The merger with the maker of Miller Genuine Draft, a deal valued at about $107 billion, had raised concerns that a single company would control too much of the beer market.
The agreement with the Justice Department requires AB InBev to notify the agency’s antitrust division of any potential craft beer acquisitions for the next 10 years, and prohibits the company from certain practices that discourage beer distributors from selling rival craft or imported beers.
