Brewer AB InBev sells big brands to complete megamerger

AB InBev, which produces Budweiser, is the world's top brewer (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)

The furious round of deal-making follows the buyout by AB InBev -- the maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois -- of London-based group SABMiller, in one of the biggest ever mergers in history.

The new company is called AB InBev, sounding the death knell of SABMiller and cementing AB InBev's dominant position as the world's top beer-maker, leaving only MillerCoors and Heineken as potential rivals.

AB InBev's merger with SABMiller was finalised late Monday and the shares of the new group are now listed in several exchanges.

But the historic tie-up required the greenlight of regulators, which ordered sell-offs of assets, including some of SABMiller's most internationally-recognised brands.

To satisfy European Union regulators, AB InBev said it successfully sold SABMiller brands Peroni and Grolsch to Japanese brewer Asahi for 2.55 billion euros ($2.76 billion).

The EU has also demanded the brewer divest SABMiller's business in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

In Asia, AB InBev said it successfully divested SABMiller's 49-percent stake in Snow breweries, China's highest-selling beer brand, for $1.6 billion as a commitment to regulators in Beijing.

Coca-Cola meanwhile is in line to buy the stake AB InBev holds in the US Coca-Cola's African subsidiary, the two companies announced Tuesday.

SAB Miller, which had done much of Coca-Cola's bottling worldwide, held a majority share in it.