Miller is buyable, U.S. tells Anheuser

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV won U.S. antitrust approval for its takeover of SABMiller PLC, after the maker of Budweiser agreed to give up ownership of the Miller brand and open the door to greater competition from craft beers.

Anheuser-Busch will sell SABMiller's stake in MillerCoors LLC and refrain from practices that restrict distribution of smaller, competing brands, according to a court filing Wednesday in Washington.

The agreement to allow the brewers to combine runs counter to the government's moves against other big deals in the past year -- the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have killed proposed tie-ups in the cable, office supplies and oil drilling industries, among others. In this case, the companies proposed asset sales from the start that resolved antitrust officials' concerns that the deal would harm competition.

Shares of Molson Coors Brewing Co., which will buy SABMiller's stake in a joint venture, climbed 2 percent in New York to $100.06 by 2:23 p.m Wednesday. Anheuser-Busch closed down less than 1 percent at $124.37 in Brussels. SABMIller was little-changed at $58.56 in London.

Anheuser-Busch, already the world's largest brewer, struck the $101 billion deal to gain SABMiller's access to emerging markets in Latin America and Africa. After divestitures, the deal will keep Budweiser, Beck's and Stella Artois under Anheuser-Busch's roof while ceding control of brands such as Miller in the U.S. and Peroni and Pilsner Urquell in Europe.

With the U.S. approval imminent, the brewers still need clearance from China before they can close. Last month, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that Chinese officials were close to blessing the deal after the companies agreed to divest the maker of Snow beer, the world's top-selling brand.

They faced pressure from some SABMiller shareholders to change the structure of the deal. Some fund managers want SABMiller to reconsider the $58-a-share offer after the plunge in the pound since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. SABMiller's board, which is convening before the company's annual shareholder meeting today, has unanimously recommended the offer.

From the start, Anheuser-Busch InBev moved to address competition problems in the U.S. by offering to sell SABMiller's MillerCoors stake to Molson Coors. Still, the deal triggered concerns from U.S. lawmakers, beer distributors and craft brewers worried about Anheuser-Busch's control over the market.

Craft brewers complained that Anheuser-Busch's incentive system for beer distributors curbed the sale of competing beers by encouraging distributors to carry Anheuser-Busch brands.

Business on 07/21/2016

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