South Africa Clears Anheuser-Busch InBev's Purchase of SABMiller

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV's roughly $108 billion deal to buy SABMiller PLC has been cleared by regulators in South Africa, with the world's largest brewer on Thursday saying it is "well on track" to close the acquisition in the second half of this year.

South Africa's Competition Tribunal's approval of the combination of Belgian-based AB InBev with SABMiller leaves the brewer now needing a formal nod from regulators in the U.S. and China before the deal can close.

AB InBev in recent weeks had taken a series of steps to push the deal through in South Africa—where regulators typically evaluate how mergers affect employment—pledging to create a $69 million investment fund in South Africa and promising that no employees in the country would lose their jobs as a result of the merger. In April, AB InBev said the investment fund would support farmers, local manufacturing, jobs and the reduction of harmful alcohol use in South Africa.

Those moves helped it get approval from the South Africa Competition Commission last month, leaving it needing just the Tribunal's nod, which it has now secured. The deal, if approved by the U.S. and China, will create the world's largest brewer, with a nearly 30% market share.

AB InBev in May got approval from the European Union after agreeing to shed nearly all of SABMiller's European assets.

To appease U.S. regulators AB InBev has agreed to sell SABMiller's interest in MillerCoors LLC to joint-venture partner Molson Coors Brewing Co. In China, it has said it would sell SABMiller's interest in the joint venture known as CR Snow to China Resources Beer Holdings Co.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 30, 2016 05:35 ET (09:35 GMT)

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