Beer Hug: AB InBev Eyes SABMiller Deal

Anheuser-Busch InBev, by far the world’s biggest brewer by volume, is determined to get even bigger with a merger approach to SABMiller, the world’s next-largest brewer. A deal would represent the latest in the industry’s inexorable search for greater global scale, one likely to attract antitrust scrutiny. Here’s a look at beer-sector consolidation over recent years.

Merger King

Anheuser-Busch InBev is itself the product of the world’s biggest beer merger to date: InBev’s near-$60 billion takeover of its U.S. rival, a deal completed in 2008. That put Budweiser together with brands like Beck’s and Stella Artois.
North American Concentration

Five years after its creation, AB InBev completed the world’s second-biggest beer deal, buying Mexico’s Grupo Modelo for around $20 billion.
Merger Foam in Europe

Danish brewer Carlsberg and Dutch rival Heineken completed a joint multibillion-dollar takeover of Scottish & Newcastle, a U.K.-based brewer, in 2008.
Guinness Is Good for You

Grand Metropolitan bought Guinness for about $19 billion back in 1997, global brewing’s first modern megadeal, to create drinks giant Diageo.
South to North: SABMiller's Merger Journey

SABMiller has proved a major consolidator of the global industry, setting out from its South African homeland for deals in China, Eastern Europe, the U.S. and, most recently, the $10 billion purchase of Australia’s Foster’s Group in 2011.