SABMiller Pauses Integration Work With Anheuser-Busch InBev

By Saabira Chaudhuri 

SABMiller PLC has hit the pause button on its integration work with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the London-brewer's board consults with shareholders over whether ABInBev's revised offer is acceptable.

In the spring, SABMiller had begun working with AB InBev on integrating finance, technology, procurement and certain supply-chain functions, according to this person, but the company decided to halt this work following AB InBev's announcement that its revised offer for SABMiller was final.

AB InBev shares were down 2.7% in recent trading in Brussels. SABMiller's shares were down 0.7%.

SABMiller's board is now consulting with shareholders and plans to meet to consider the revised offer before making a final recommendation.

The Belgian-based beer giant on Monday raised its cash offer to GBP45 ($59.10) a share from GBP44 a share to appease shareholders of SABMiller, who have watched the value of the offer fall along with sterling. The pound sank sharply after the June 23 vote by Britain to leave the European Union.

That decline has deflated the value of AB InBev's cash-only offer, intended for most shareholders, compared with a separate cash-and-share offer aimed at SABMiller's two biggest shareholders, U.S. cigarette maker Altria Group Inc. and Colombia's Santo Domingo family.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2016 12:33 ET (16:33 GMT)

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