According to a news report from www.nytimes.com, “The Belgian beer giant, InBev, is in the early stages of preparing what could be a $44.6 billion offer for Anheuser-Busch, the American maker of Budweiser beer, people briefed on the matter said Friday.”
“A merger would put together InBev, one of the world’s largest brewers and the maker of Stella Artois, with Anheuser-Busch, which has more than 50 percent of the American beer market,” said the story. “Any possible InBev bid, these people said, was still far off. Shares in Anheuser-Busch jumped more than 7.5 percent on Friday. The news was first reported by The Financial Times’ Alphaville blog. Speculation that InBev might make a bid for Anheuser-Busch has percolated for more than a year. In February 2007, a Brazilian newspaper — without naming sources — said the two companies were in merger talks.”
