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InBev Takeover Granted Approval

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By LARA JAKES JORDAN and EMILY FREDRIX

The Associated Press

Published: November 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department approved a $52 billion beer buzz Friday, allowing Belgium-based InBev SA to buy out Anheuser-Busch and create the world's largest brewer.

But InBev's buzz comes with a slight hiccup: It must sell subsidiary Labatt USA to win regulatory approval.

Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light have less than 1 percent share of the U.S. market, but in upstate New York they go head-to-head with Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.'s Budweiser and Bud Light, and MillerCoors LLC brands such as Coors Light and Miller Lite.

Without the sell-off condition, the Justice Department said beer prices would increase in metropolitan Buffalo, Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y. due to lessened competition.

"This divestiture will ensure that consumers will continue to benefit from the significant competition between the merging companies in upstate New York," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Deborah A. Garza said in a statement.
InBev and Anheuser-Busch don't compete in most other beer markets around the country, where Anheuser-Busch is the dominant player with a 50 percent share. InBev, brewer of Stella Artois, Beck's and Lowenbrau, has less than 2 percent the U.S. market, regulators said.

The Justice Department's blessing to the takeover comes just two days after Anheuser-Busch shareholders approved the sale. The deal, reached in July, is still subject to regulatory approval in Britain and China. InBev shareholders backed the deal in September.

Anheuser-Busch and AmBev, a subsidiary of InBev that owns Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd., said in separate statements Friday that the parties have satisfied the Justice Department's request to sell Labatt USA to a third-party licensee.

The companies did not name the licensee, or give the terms of that deal. They said the specifics of the deal with the licensee must be approved by the Justice Department.

The combination of Anheuser-Busch and InBev brings about the end of more than 150 years of family rule of the St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch.

FATE OF THEME PARKS

Locally, Anheuser-Busch owns Busch Entertainment Group, which operates Busch Gardens and Adventure Island in Tampa and eight other theme parks. InBev is likely to sell the entertainment company, but it's unclear who would buy it, analysts have said. Any sale could raise $2.5 billion to $5 billion.

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