Takeover going flat? SABMiller’s fourth largest investor rejects AB InBev offer

The fourth largest shareholder in SABMiller on Monday rejected Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $100 billion (£65 billion) takeover offer as too low, piling pressure on the Belgian brewer to sweeten the deal that would a create beer colossus. The offer has already been snubbed by the board of SABMiller, saying the £42.15 per share valuation was “very substantially” under par. “We have confidence in the board and we will rely on their judgement,” said Dan Matjila, chief executive of Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which owns about 3% of SABMiller.

They have said the price is too low and we agree with them.

Dan Matjila, chief executive of Public Investment Corporation

The rejection by the PIC, as well the board, is testing the determination of AB InBev to create a $280 billion global brewing giant that would control about one third of world’s beer market just days before Wednesday’s bid deadline. The brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois may raise its offer to as much as £44 per share, source close to the matter told Reuters on Sunday. The PIC, which manages more than $120 billion in South African government employee pensions, also needed more details on the AB InBev’s proposed secondary listing of the combined brewer on the Johannesburg’s bourse, Matjila said.

SABMiller Business