Deadline extended for beer deal

Brewer SABMiller extends the deadline for rival Anheuser-Busch InBev to make a formal takeover offer.

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Brussels - Brewer SABMiller has extended the deadline for rival Anheuser-Busch InBev to make a formal $100-billion-plus takeover offer by a week.

The two companies said in a statement on Wednesday that London's Panel on Takeovers and Mergers had granted SABMiller's request to push back the deadline to 5pm on Wednesday, November 4.

The Takeover Panel already granted a two-week extension from an initial October 14 deadline after the two parties said they had reach preliminary agreement on a merger.

In the past two weeks, AB InBev has completed a due diligence review of its target and reconfirmed the terms of its proposed offer. It also confirmed it had negotiated facilities to fund a takeover at short notice, the two companies said.

SABMiller had requested the extension to allow the companies to continue discussions “with respect to other aspects of the transaction”.

AB InBev, the world's largest beermaker, plans to buy world number two, SABMiller, in a mostly cash deal worth $106 billion based on AB InBev's closing share price on Tuesday.

AB InBev is offering 44 pounds per SABMiller share, along with a discounted alternative mostly of shares and designed for SABMiller's two largest shareholders, cigarette-maker Altria and BevCo, the vehicle of Colombia's Santo Domingo family, who together own 40.5 percent of the target company.

REUTERS