(6/12/08) Anheuser-Busch confirmed late yesterday that they have now officially received an unsolicited purchase offer for the company from InBev, who is offering to acquire all outstanding shares for $65 in cash. As required, the AB board of directors and their various advisors will go over the proposal to determine what action is in the best interest of the shareholders. Typically this kind of process usually takes months before a decision is reached, so don’t look for any surprises to take place anytime soon.
On a personal note, I would find any sale of Anheuser-Busch to be quite depressing. Not just from the likely sale of the theme park side of the business, but the thought that such a giant American powerhouse business icon could be lost to a hostile foreign takeover is kind of numbing. Especially the AB has entrenched themselves to be about as “American” as you can get with their constant support to the men and women of our military through the Hero’s Salute programs. They’ve become part of just about every huge American sports league from Baseball to NASCAR to their huge SuperBowl ad campaigns. AB’s own corporate icon of an Eagle also reflects that of the American Eagle, and somehow that is just all going to feel wrong if the company is taken-over by InBev, a giant created by a previous monster merger in 2004 of Interbrew (Belgium) and AmBev (Brazil).
