Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge InBev agrees to buy Anheuser for $50 billion

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080713/anheuser_inbev.html?.v=1

PHILADELPHIA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (NYSE:BUD - News) agreed to a $50 billion takeover by Belgium-based InBev NV (Brussels:INTB.BR - News), a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday, creating the world's largest beer maker.

InBev, the maker of Stella Artois, and Budweiser-brewer Anheuser were not immediately available to comment.

The combined company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev, said the sources, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. Anheuser will get seats on the new company's board, the sources said, but it was not immediately clear how many.

Adding another dimension to any deal was Mexico's No. 1 brewer Grupo Modelo (Mexico:GMODELOC.MX - News), which is 50 percent owned by Anheuser. The maker of Corona beer, which has the right to choose its partner, has not yet approved InBev for that role and the two brewers remain in talks, according to one person familiar with the situation.

Modelo declined to comment.

The deal brings an amicable resolution to a month-long saga that was becoming increasingly hostile as the two companies sued each other and InBev set the stage to try to replace Anheuser's board of directors.

InBev had proposed its own slate of nominees for the board that included Adolphus Busch IV, an uncle of the current chief executive of Anheuser-Busch......

rest of story at link above

Good thing I drink Becks

Cue the funeral dirge.

Thank the Fed and its monetary policy for this to be able to happen. Lots of USA companies have become available with the cheap dollar.

Just think of the new beer that could come out of this frankenstein brewery.

A pint of wife beater that tastes like water and gives you the mother of all hangovers

Bud - The king of swill. Much ado about nothing...

My only concern is that they spare the horses and an amusement park or two.

Who cares really? Their "beer" is awful.

Bud and the other beer giants put lots of small regional brewers out of business. Don't shed a tear for them now that they sold out.

Looks like our pal 'Budweiser' (Bobby) will have to change his handle to 'Bev'

So 2 swill brewers merge..big deal.

Anybody know if they're plannin' on replacing the Dalmatian with a Belgian Shepard?

(yep...that'd be the extent of my concern here too alright!)

Quote:

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Good thing I drink Becks

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Becks, if I'm not mistaken, that's German for Buttwiper....

No need for name calling.

If your beer is not up to spec you can still rent it.


Reinheitsgebot

what is this doo-doo????? my personal opinion is that bunch's of 'necks are gonna move to "colorado kool-aid", or some other american brand. i still havn't enjoyed a "newkie bruin", too much bud in the area.

You gotta love the Germans, passing a law on how beer can be made.
And they sure have mastered that craft, bless their little hearts.

Not name calling, just telling you what most Germans (a vast majority of my friends over there, although in fairness, they are SOUTHERN Germans) think of Becks. They (my friends) used that exact term, "Becks is like Budweiser in your country"

For the same money, there are lots better out there, even from Germany (and trust me, I've sampled most of them!) There are crap beers in Germany like Becks, Stuttgarter Hofbrau, and Eisenacher, and then there are good ones like Schneider, Erdinger, Bitburger, or Alpirsbacher. You can even get a good Hacker-Pschorr or Spaten for the same price, and better taste (IMO).

Yeah, yeah, yeah ..........
Guess it is a time for change. Arrogant ****** Ale I'm
thinking.
J.C. still got the LCC ??????

bUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPP !!!!!!!!!!!

wow, guess I've been gone a while InBevster. Thought you were long gone from here...

Nope ! still here although I was MIA for about six months as
I sold the "Silver Bullet" back in Jan. but now I have her back. This Thursday I am going to test ride the Ducati
Hypermotard. Wish me luck on that one.

OOOOH....Hypermotard!!! Coooool bike there, Budster!!!

(how's that bum shoulder o' yours holdin' up anyway???)

Good luck and welcome back, although I'm hardly the one to talk about being MIA on the boards....

Shoulders are holding up for the most part probably because I took a six month break. Just glad I sold the bike to one of my mechanics who never did ride it.
The Hypermotard........... well,let me tell ya...... last week I took the front wheel off the "Silver Bullet" and took it to the local dealer who just so happens to be a Ducati dealer as well and the rest of the story....... well, you know happens when ya go to a motorcycle dealer. The wife is gonna kill me for this. I always say "it is easier to ask for forgivness than permission.

Good to hear that that rest helped your shoulder heal!

(and if you decide to go ahead and buy that fun-as-all-get-out Ducati, I wish ya good luck with that "forgiveness" thing too, dude!)

Funny thing, last three bikes I purchased she knew nothing about them unitil they were in the garage.
But yeah !!!!!!! does that Motard look like fun or what !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Schneider, Erdinger and the rest are just as "common" as Bud in southern Germany, no fancy schmancy snooty beers like the Rasberry beers and the such. Just brewed a ****** of a lot better (IMO of course), that's all.


And as I recall, Becks, along with Heineken, were the original "snooty beers" when they came to the US and all of the Yuppies were drinking them.

I'll take a Spaten, DAB or Hacker-Pschorr any day. Great stuff!

Here is an interesting take on this from a college buddy whose family owns a distributor. For the record, I think Budweiser is monkey ******.

his could be really good or really bad. As tim put it to me the other day, it just can’t get any worse than the ****** we have been putting up with. Of course there is always the chance he could be wrong.



I think the family and the board knows they have made a mistake letting IV take the helm. This is a man that appointed our friend and former Mollys’ barkeep Evan Ethanos to Executive VP after he served as his ****** for several years.



The folks at Inbev are really a bunch of accountants and cost cutters and whoa Nellie are they going to have a field day hacking the fat at AB. If they succeed at cutting the fat the new company might be a whole lot leaner and therefore might be more hands off to the distributors. Then again, if they cut the folks that know how to market the stuff to the average joe then they will really go down hill fast because I hate to say it but there are lots of great beers out there not made by AB. AB just knows how to market here. ******, ******, some funny dogs and a few good catch phases and a product that doesn’t surprise. Very consistent beer making abilities. ****** off the teamsters who represent the brewery employees, and they will have a fifty billion dollar turd on their hands.



As for the distributor channel, AB has always been so heavy handed that in the past few years they really just felt like sharecroppers. On the plus side, AB has used the distributor network as a defense against Wal Mart and the other national grocers who have repeatedly asked for either direct pricing from the brewery or special beers made only for them. AB always holds that these violate their distribution agreements although they could bust them it they really wanted to I’m sure. The agreement is 100+ pages. In bev should follow suit or risk becoming a slave.



If Inbev will take the shackles off and let them run more efficiently and not by the AB playbook, most distributors will stand and cheer. They need more imports which of course InBev can bring in droves so it might be just great for the distributors.



Of course I might be seeing the bright side.