LONDON (AP) – Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its takeover bid for SABMiller to 70.4 billion pounds ($108.2 billion) Monday in its latest effort to win backing for its plan to create “the first truly global beer company.”
AB InBev has been trying for nearly a month to get its hands on SABMiller but its previous offers have met with resistance. It will be hoping that its latest offer, which values SABMiller at 43.50 pounds a share – 3.2 percent more than its previous bid and 14 percent higher than its initial offer – will finally win the day.
SABMiller declined to comment on the fresh offer.
Shares of London-based SABMiller rose 1 percent to 37 pounds a share on reports of the improved bid.
Were an agreement to eventually emerge, the combined company would have 31 percent of the global beer market, dwarfing the next biggest player, Heineken, which has 9 percent of the market. A combined company would have total annual sales of $73.3 billion.