OFT gives Bud takeover the green light

Wednesday, 19 November 2008
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has cleared the £35bn takeover of US brewer Anheuser-Busch by Belgian drinks giant InBev even though the enlarged company will have at least a 40% share of the premium lager market in the UK off-trade.

The takeover is said to be the largest cash acquisition in corporate history and will "consolidate" InBev's position as one of the leading brewers in the UK. In the UK, the deal will bring Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser brand in with InBev's Stella Artois, the leading alcoholic drinks brand in the UK, and Beck's Bier.

The OFT said it had no concerns about the off-trade as it did not view Budweiser and Stella Artois as being "close competitors". Off-trade retailers, said the OFT, were not concerned about the takeover as there were alternative and competing premium lagers in the market, including Kronenbourg 1664, Heineken, Grolsch, Peroni and Miller Genuine Draft.

The deal will give InBev a 50% share of the on-trade premium lager market, but the OFT said only a "fraction" of premium lager sales were in bottles. Despite this, InBev will have the leading on-trade bottled premium lagers in Budweiser and Beck's.

Simon Pritchard, senior director of mergers at the OFT, said there was "no realistic prospect that drinkers of Stella, Beck's or Bud would pay more as a result of this merger".

Mike Dennis
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