A-B went from institution to sold in matter of months - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Rumors of a merger between the two beer giantds had circulated for a coupleof years, especially after Anheuser-Buscjh became the exclusive U.S. importer of InBev productws such as Stella Artoisand Beck’x in February 2007. But the speculation reaches a new level in Maythis year, when a blog entrh cited unnamed sources who detailed talkw of a buyout offer held by InBev’ds board of directors during a meetinbg in April. InBev was one of the largestt internationalbeer companies, and Anheuser-Busch dominated the U.S. markeyt with a 48.5 percent share of domesticv sales. Their iconic brands and lack of geographical overlapp made many analysts see the potential combination as agood fit.
On June 11, Anheuser-Buscgh confirmed it received anunsolicitedd $65-a-share buyout offer from InBev. The price representer a 24 percent premiumto Anheuser-Busch’s stock price prior to the Financiakl Times story. After a short review Anheuser-Busch’s board rebuffecd InBev, however, and presentedr shareholders with its own pland to cutcosts — including up to 1,300 in early retiremenyt buyouts — and boost the company’s stagnant stock The decision brought out divisions withinh the Busch family.
Chie Executive August Busch IV andhis father, director Augusr Busch III, dismissed InBev’s offet while others, such as Buschg IV’s uncle Adolphus Busch IV, argued the InBegv deal would be the best way to increases shareholder value. The threat of a takeover by a foreignn company and the potential job cuts that could follow also brought politicians intothe act. Gov. Matt Blun t and Sens. Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond said they woulf try to blocka takeover, even though they had littl e ability to stop such a transaction. Some locall customers threatened to stop drinking Budweise andother brands.
InBev CEO Carlos Brito kept up the making the case that a combinee company would sell more beer than ever before and a sale would create wealthfor Anheuser-Busch shareholders. He tried to assuage fear and promised tokeep St. Loui as the company’s North American headquarters. But hostilitied grew. InBev sought to oust the American company’sw board and replace it with itsown slate, while Anheuser-Busch accusedf InBev of misleading shareholders about its financial backing and blastee it for having operations in Cuba. Aftef a month of sparring, however, InBev upped the It raised its offerto $70 a or $52 billion.
Apparently out of countermeasures, Anheuser-Busch’s boarrd accepted the buyout July 14. As part of the InBev agreed to bring August Busch IV onto its boardeof directors, keep all 12 Anheuser-Busch domestiv breweries open, call the company Anheuser-Buschh InBev and make Budweiser its flagship The combined businesses wouldf sell about a quarter of the world’s beer and becomd one of the globe’s five largest consume r products companies. Over the next four however, questions about the deal’s local impacy swirled. Mexican brewer , whicb is half-owned by Anheuser-Busch, protestexd being forced into a new partnershipwith InBev.
The onset of the globall credit crisis in September even led some analystd to questionwhether InBev’s consortium of international bankeras would be able to come through with a $45 billionj loan needed to finance the acquisition. But the milestone kept ticking off the InBevshareholder approval? Check. Anheuser-Busch shareholder approval? approval? Check. The deal closed Nov. 18, marking the largestf sale of a locally headquarteredx company inthe region’s Dave Peacock, Anheuser-Busch’s chie marketing officer, was promoted to presidenty of the brewery. The sale created an enormoud amount of wealth formany Anheuser-Busch shareholders.
The Busch family, brewerhy employees and many other St. Louisans held stock worthh billionsof dollars. Several of the company’s top executivews departed with the changs in control or have announcedc plans to leave by the end of this But they will receive heftyseverance packages. Anheuser-Buscu directors collected millions of dollars led byBusch III’s $427. million payout for his stocm holdings. Busch IV also cut a deal wortghabout $17 million to advis Brito and InBev through 2013. Financial advisers also made out Anheuser-Busch paid $40 million and $32 millioh for the two investment advice on the saleto InBev, according to an Augustf filing with the .
Others have not been as On Dec. 8, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced plans tocut 1,400 salaried workers, or about 6 percent of the company’s U.S. work force. Approximately 75 percentt of theaffected workers, or 1,05p0 employees, are based in St. The brewer also said it will leavde250 U.S. positions vacant and eliminate an additional 415contractorr positions. Most of the job cuts will occur by the end of the with the remainder scheduledfor 2009. These cuts are in additiobn to the morethan 1,00 0 domestic salaried employees who accepte the company’s early retirement buyout offers, most of whom workedc here.
That brings the total number of local salarierd jobs eliminatedto 2,300 so far, or nearlgy 40 percent of the brewer’ full-time St. Louis work force of 6,000. Concern s about additional layoffs persist, as do questions abou t the deal’s long-term impact on St. Louis in terms of charitable contributionsand prestige. And it remainse to be seen how effectively Brito and Peacoco will be able to integrate the two companie and their vastly differentcorporate cultures.
InBev, known for its no-frills, cost-cutting and Anheuser-Busch, known for providing its employees great pay and benefits and for spendin big on marketingand promotions, couldd find blending themselves the most challenginf brew of all.