Anheuser-Busch rejected InBev's US$46.3 billion ($60.9 billion) takeover bid yesterday, calling it inadequate, but the largest US brewer left the door open to a higher bid.
Anheuser's board unanimously rejected the Belgian-Brazilian company's US$65-a-share bid to create the world's largest brewer, saying the offer undervalued its assets and
its growth plan, which includes a newly revamped cost-cutting programme codenamed Blue Ocean.
But Anheuser chief executive August Busch IV, in a letter to InBev chief executive Carlos Brito, said the board of the maker of Budweiser and Michelob beers would continue to consider any strategic alternative that would be in the best interests of Anheuser-Busch shareholders as it pursued its plan.
InBev, for its part, reiterated its "strong preference" for "a friendly combination" but, in a possible prelude to a hostile campaign, filed a lawsuit yesterday to establish that shareholders could remove Anheuser's entire board of directors.
Analysts reckon InBev expected a rejection to its first bid and is likely to continue along its friendly route by offering a higher bid.
- REUTERS
