SABMiller's offer for Grolsch opens

The acceptance period for global brewing giant SABMiller's (SAB) offer for Dutch brewer Koninklijke Grolsch NV (Grolsch) commenced yesterday, at 9:00 hours, Amsterdam time on 8 January, and ends at 15:00 hours Amsterdam time on 5 February, unless extended, the company said on Monday.

The offer is a cash offer for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of Grolsch of EUR48.25 per share. Grolsch will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on 28 January during which the offer will be discussed.

The supervisory board of Grolsch and the management board of Grolsch unanimously support the offer and recommend it to shareholders for acceptance. The offer is subject to the fulfillment of the offer conditions as set out in the offer memorandum, including acceptance by at least 75% of shareholders.

On November 19 2997, SABMiller announced it was to make a EUR816 million offer for 100% of the Dutch brewer.

The groups reached conditional agreement regarding the recommended public cash offer by SABMiller of EUR48.25 per share, which represented an 84.3% premium to Grolsch's average closing share price over the preceding month.

SABMiller said it would finance the offer through financial resources available to the SABMiller Group, which include cash, committed facilities and its Commercial Paper Programme.

Graham Mackay, chief executive of SABMiller, said at the announcement of the bid that Grolsch would provide SABMiller with a powerful addition to its international brand portfolio.

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