The expected announcement by the South African Competition Commission was delayed until Wednesday. Late on Tuesday, it was unclear whether the commission was going to recommend conditional approval of the transaction, or ask for a further extension.
Commission spokesman Itumeleng Lesofe would not respond to requests for a status update. He said the commission had decided that no public announcements would be made "until we're ready to make our recommendation".
While some analysts speculated that the commission was set to recommend conditional approval of the transaction, others believed it had been hoping to get a 15-day extension, but this had been blocked by the merging parties.
The European Commission said on Tuesday that clearance for the deal was conditional on AB InBev selling practically the entire SABMiller beer business in Europe.
It said it was concerned that the transaction, as initially notified, could have led to higher beer prices in its member states because it would have removed an important competitor and made tacit co-ordination between the leading international brewers more likely.
By offering to divest practically all of SABMiller's beer business in Europe, AB InBev had tackled this issue.
Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner in charge of European Union (EU) competition policy, said that Tuesday's decision would ensure that competition was not weakened, and that EU consumers were not worse off.
AB InBev agreed to sell some of its leading European brands including Peroni and Grolsch, to Japan's Asahi Group to secure approval from the European Commission. And more recently, it undertook to sell the bulk of its East European beer brands including Pilsner Urquell.
The European approval is the first of four preconditions to the deal's completion. The other three conditions are approval from the South African, Chinese and US authorities.
Last week, SABMiller CEO Alan Clark said neither SABMiller nor AB InBev expected the deal to be completed before 12 August, when SABMiller was due to pay its final dividend.
He confirmed the merging parties expected completion sometime in the second half of this financial year.
European approval is the first of four preconditions.
Source: Business Day
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