Anheuser-Busch InBev

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

Type	Public company
Traded as	Euronext: ABI NYSE: BUD JSE: ANB
Industry	Beverages, brewing
Founded	2008 (2008), through merger of InBev with Anheuser-Busch
Headquarters	Leuven, Belgium
Key people	Carlos Brito (CEO), Kees J. Storm (chairman)
Products	Beers, soft drinks
Revenue	US$47.063 billion (2014)[1]
Operating income	US$15.111 billion (EBIT 2014)[1]
Profit	US$11.302 billion (2014)[1]
Total assets	US$142.550 billion (2014)[1]
Total equity	US$54.257 billion (2014)[1]
Number of employees	>155,000 (2014)[2]
Subsidiaries	Anheuser-Busch AmBev InBev Grupo Modelo
Website	www.ab-inbev.com

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑnɦɔi̯zər ˈbuʃ ˈɪmbɛf], abbreviated as AB InBev) is a multinational beverage and brewing company headquartered in Leuven, Belgium.^[3] It is the world's largest brewer and has a 25 percent global market share.

AB InBev was formed through successive mergers of three international brewing groups: Interbrew from Belgium, AmBev from Brazil, and Anheuser-Busch from the United States. It has 16 brands that individually generate more than US$ 1 billion annually in revenue, out of a portfolio of more than 200 brands.^[2] This portfolio includes global brands Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois, international brands Beck's, Hoegaarden and Leffe and local brands such as Bud Light, Skol, Brahma, Antarctica, Quilmes, Victoria, Modelo Especial, Michelob Ultra, Harbin, Sedrin, Klinskoye, Sibirskaya Korona, Chernigivske and Jupiler.

Total revenue for all 200 AB InBev brands in 2014 was over 47 billion USD.^[2] The company employs over 155,000 people in 25 countries. After the integration in 2008 of Anheuser-Busch, based in Saint Louis, Missouri, the company started reporting its financial results in US dollars.

AB InBev has a primary listing on Euronext Brussels and is a constituent of the Euro Stoxx 50 index. It has secondary listings on the New York and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges. Dividends per share increased steadily from 0.35 USD in 2008 to 3.00 USD for 2014. The payout ratio increased from 26.3% to 64.8% during the same period.^[4] AB InBev's market share, measured as volume of beverages sold, on a country-by-country basis, was published by the company for 2014, showing it has the highest market share and market share over 40% in seven of its 10 top markets—including Belgium, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and South Korea.^[2] AB InBev operates 140 plants in its 10 top markets.

In 2013 Anheuser-Busch InBev joined leading alcohol producers as part of a producers' commitments to reducing harmful drinking.^[5]

In October 2015, Anheuser-Busch-InBev announced a successful all-cash bid to acquire multinational competitor SABMiller for £69 billion ($104 billion).^[5] The plan must yet pass regulatory and anti-trust scrutiny.

History

AB InBev was formed following the acquisition of American brewer Anheuser-Busch by Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev, which is a merger of AmBev and Interbrew.

• Interbrew was formed in 1987 from a merger of the two largest breweries in Belgium: Artois and Piedboeuf. The Artois brewery, previously known as Den Hoorn, was already established by 1366 AD. In 1995, Interbrew expanded by acquiring Labatt Brewing Company (founded 1847), the largest brewer in Canada, in 1995. In 2002 it acquired Beck's (founded 1873), the maker of the world's top selling German beer.
• AmBev (short for Companhia de Bebidas das Américas, or "Beverages Company of the Americas") was created in 1999 with the merger of the two biggest Brazilian brewers, Antarctica (founded in 1880) and Brahma (founded in 1886).
• Anheuser-Busch was established in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri as Anheuser & Co

In 2004, Interbrew and AmBev merged, creating the world's largest brewer, InBev.^[6] The deal was valued at $11.5 billion and combined the 3rd largest (Interbrew) and 5th largest (Ambev) brewers into the world's No.1 beermaker. The deal consolidated the top brands from Belgium, Canada, Germany and Brazil.^[7]

Anheuser bought Harbin Brewery, the maker of Harbin beer in 2004 and Fujian Sedrin Brewery, the maker of Sedrin beer, in 2006, making AB InBev now the No. 3 brewer in China (the world's largest beer market).^[8] In 2007, subsidiary Labatt acquired Lakeport in Canada, and InBev increased its shareholding in QUINSA, strengthening the company’s foothold in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In 2008, the merger of InBev and Anheuser-Busch was completed, creating Anheuser–Busch InBev, expanding on InBev's previous status as the world's largest brewer, now creating one of the top five consumer products companies in the world. Under the terms of the merger agreement, all shares of Anheuser-Busch were acquired for 70 USD per share in cash, for an aggregate of 52 billion USD.^[9]

Takeovers

The following is a diagram of Anheuser-Busch's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors

Interbrew

After the merger in 1987, Interbrew acquired a number of local breweries in Belgium. By 1991, a second phase of targeted external growth began outside Belgium. The first transaction in this phase took place in Hungary, followed in 1995 by the acquisition of Labatt, in Canada, and then in 1999 by a joint venture with Sun in Russia.

In 2000, Interbrew acquired Bass and Whitbread in the UK, and in 2001 the company established itself in Germany, with the acquisition of Diebels. This was followed by the acquisition of Beck’s & Co., the Gilde Group and Spaten. Interbrew operated as a family-owned business until December 2000. At this point it organized an Initial Public Offering, becoming a publicly owned company trading on the Euronext stock exchange (Brussels, Belgium).

In 2002, Interbrew strengthened its position in China, by acquiring stakes in the K.K. Brewery and the Zhujiang Brewery.

AmBev

AmBev is a Brazilian beverages company formed by a merger in 1999 between the Brahma and Antarctica breweries. It has a dominant position in South America and the Caribbean region.^[10][11][12] The subsidiary is listed on BM&F Bovespa, the São Paulo stock exchange, and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch is the largest brewing company in the United States. It was the world's largest brewing company based on revenue, but third in brewing volume, before the acquisition by InBev announced 13 July 2008. The division operated 12 breweries in the United States and 17 others overseas.

Anheuser-Busch's best known beers included brands such as Budweiser, the Busch (originally known as Busch Bavarian Beer) and Michelob families, and Natural Light and Ice. The company also produced a number of smaller-volume and specialty beers, nonalcoholic brews, malt liquors (King Cobra and the Hurricane family), and flavored malt beverages (e.g., the Bacardi Silver family and Tequiza).

Anheuser-Busch was also one of the largest theme park operators in the United States with ten parks throughout the United States. In October 2009, AB InBev announced the sale of its Busch Entertainment theme park division to The Blackstone Group for $2.7 billion. The company had been investigating a sale of Busch Entertainment since the merger with Inbev.^[13][14]

InBev

InBev was the second largest brewery company in the world.^[15] While its core business is beer, the company also had a strong presence in the soft drink market in Latin America. It employed about 86,000 people and was headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, where Anheuser–Busch InBev will now be based.

Before the merger with AmBev, Interbrew was the third largest brewing company in the world by volume, Anheuser-Busch was the largest, followed by SABMiller in second place. Heineken International was in fourth place and AmBev was the world's fifth largest brewer.

InBev employed close to 89,000 people, running operations in over 30 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2007, InBev realized 14.4 billion euro of revenue.

Grupo Modelo

The company owns Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer and owner of the Corona brand as of 4 June 2013. This transaction was valued at 20.1 billion USD. To satisfy US anti-trust demands, Grupo Modelo sold its US business, including US brand rights and the Piedras Negras Brewery in Mexico, for approx. 4.75 billion USD to Constellation Brands, a competitor of AB Inbev in some beverage sectors.^[1]

Additionally, the group has a 51% controlling stock on Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana through the AmBev division.

Oriental Brewery

On April 1, 2014, AB Inbev completed the re-acquisition of the Oriental Brewery (OB), which it had sold in July 2009. OB is the largest brewer in South Korea. Its CASS brand is the best-selling beer in South Korea. All beers produced by OB are brewed using rice.^[16]

Bud Analytics Lab

In 2013, AB Inbev opened its Bud Analytics Lab in Research Park, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which develops data research and innovation to solve problems ranging from assortment optimization, social media, and market trends to large scale data initiatives.

SABMiller acquisition bid

On October 13, 2015, Anheuser-Busch InBev made a bid of $106 billion or £70 billion (£44 per share) for its largest rival, SABMiller, which if approved would give the company a third of the global market share for beer sales and a half of the global profit.^[17][18] The company had previously offered £38, £40, £42.15, £43.50 per share respectively, but each of these had been turned down.^[19][20][21]

SABMiller accepted the bid in principle, but consummation of the deal awaits antitrust approval by regulatory agencies in the U.S. and possibly elsewhere. Industry leader AB InBev, based in Belgium, accounted for more than a fifth of global beer sales and 45% of the U.S. market in 2014.^[22] AB InBev's brands include Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois and Becks.^[23][24]

SABMiller, whose brands include Fosters, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch, Miller, Coors, and Peroni,^[25] is the world's second-largest brewer with a global market share of nearly 10 percent. In 2014, its 58% interest in the MillerCoors joint venture represented the second-biggest share of the U.S. market at 15%.^[26][22] If the deal were to go through without requiring divestiture of some brands (seen as unlikely), the combined company would control 30% of the global market and have a dominating 60% U.S. market share.^[27]

Brands

AB InBev's brand portfolio includes highly popular beer and soft drinks brands. The company classifies its brands as Global Brands, International Brands, and Local Champions.

Global brands include:

• Budweiser
• Corona
• Stella Artois

International brands include:

• Beck's
• Hoegaarden
• Leffe

Local Champion brands include:

The company also owns distribution rights to the Bacardi and Monster Energy brands.^[9]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anheuser-Busch InBev.

• Official website

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