SAB Miller To Pay Extra A$582 Million For Foster's After Tax Ruling

SABMiller PLC (SAB.JO) will have to pay an extra A$582 million as part of its takeover of Foster's Group Ltd. (FGL.AU), after the Australian Taxation Office knocked back the planned structure of the deal.

Foster's said that shareholders would receive A$5.40 per share in the transaction, a 5.5% increase on the original A$5.10 per share. However, a capital return that was to have taken place alongside the takeover, returning 30 cents per share to shareholders, will now not take place.

"Foster's today announces that, after discussions with the Australian Taxation Office over recent weeks it has not been able to obtain, on terms satisfactory to both Foster's and SABMiller PLC, a class ruling from the Australian Commissioner of Taxation in relation to the capital return proposed as part of the transaction with SABMiller," the company said in a statement.

The capital return method would have reduced the tax bill on the transaction.

Foster's shareholders will vote on the takeover at a meeting on Dec. 1. The Foster's board said it continued to back unanimously the takeover.

-By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]