InBev

InBev is a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheuser-Busch InBev (abbreviated AB InBev). InBev had operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries.[1] In 2006, it had a market capitalization of €30.6 billion and net profit of €3.2 billion on sales of €13.3 billion.

On 13 July 2008 InBev agreed to buy Anheuser-Busch, forming a new company to be named Anheuser-Busch InBev. It was reported that Anheuser would get two seats on the combined board.[2] To obtain antitrust approval in the United States, InBev agreed to divest itself of the company that imported Labatt's beer, another InBev brand, into the United States; this transaction was completed on 13 March 2009.[3]

The all-cash agreement, for $70 per share, or almost $52 billion, created the world's largest brewer, uniting the maker of

History

InBev was created in 2004 from the merger of the Belgian company Interbrew and the Brazilian company AmBev.[9] Before the merger with Ambev, Interbrew was the third largest brewing company in the world by volume; Anheuser-Busch was the largest, followed by SABMiller in second place. Heineken International was in fourth place and AmBev was the world's fifth largest brewer.

Interbrew

Interbrew's roots can be traced back to 1366 in Den Horen in Leuven when Brouwerij Artois was founded. Starting as early as the 1960s, the Artois brewery acquired several local breweries and hence consolidated its position in Belgium, until they expanded internationally by acquiring two Dutch breweries, Dommelsch in 1968 and Hengelo Bier in 1974. Finally in 1987, Artois and the Walloon-based brewer Piedboeuf, came together to form Interbrew.[10]

The move onto the global scene only happened when Interbrew acquired the Canadian beer brand Labatt. The transaction also included Labatt's sports-related assets, namely the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club, the Toronto Argonauts football club, and The Sports Network. At the time, Labatt was not much smaller than Interbrew, and since then the company has been considered a multinational with both Canadian and Belgian roots.

Some important Interbrew brands are Stella Artois, Boddingtons, Beck's, Staropramen, Jupiler, Leffe, Labatt, Hoegaarden and Bass.

In December 2001 Interbrew, Danone (former owner of Kronenbourg, and two other smaller brewers) were fined €91m for operating a cartel in Belgium while four Luxembourg companies were fined €448,000 the same month.[11]

AmBev

AmBev is a Brazilian beer company formed by a merger in 1999 between the Brahma and Antarctica breweries. It has a dominant position in South America.[12][13]

Post-merger history

InBev announced in 2005 and confirmed in 2006 that it would move the brewing of Hoegaarden, whose brewery it determined was obsolete, to the Piedboeuf brewery in Jupille. This resulted in huge protests and great disappointment in the town of Hoegaarden. The beer, though, is made with a very special yeast that is difficult to cultivate and keep alive. The Jupille-based brewery proved incapable of attaining desired levels of quality and InBev's sole alternative was to bring production back to the original Hoegaarden-brewery, causing great sarcasm in the media that, by that time, had become openly hostile towards the beer-giant.[14] In September 2007 however, the company announced that brewing would continue at the Hoegaarden Brewery in Hoegaarden.

On 12 June 2008 InBev announced that it made a US$46 billion offer for the brewing firm Anheuser-Busch.[15] This merger joined two of the world's four largest brewing companies (based on revenue) and created a company that brews three of the top beers in the world – Bud Light, Budweiser and Skol. InBev also stated that the merger would not result in any U.S. brewery closures and it would also attempt to keep management and board members from both companies.

type	Subsidiary
industry	Beverage
predecessors	AmBev Interbrew
founded	2004
hq location city	Anderlecht
hq location country	Belgium
area served	Worldwide
key people	Carlos Brito (CEO) Marcel Herrmann Telles (chairman of the Board of Directors)
products	Beer
brands	Beck's Brahma Corona Leffe Stella Artois
parent	AB InBev
website	ab-inbev.com

History

Interbrew

AmBev

Post-merger history

Merger with SABMiller

Corporate governance

Organization

Operations

Western Europe

North America

Latin America

Brands

See also

References