Cheers! EU antitrust regulators wave through Megabrew
EU antitrust regulators have waved through ABInBev's £68bn takeover of SABMiller.
There is however quite a large caveat in that SABMiller will have to sell almost the whole of its beer business in Europe – though it already has that in-hand.
SABMiller has agreed to offload its Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime beer brands to Japan's Asahi Group and to divest its eastern European assets.
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Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said:
Today's decision will ensure that competition is not weakened in these markets and that EU consumers are not worse off. Europeans buy around 125 billion euros of beer every year, so even a relatively small price increase could cause considerable harm to consumers. It was therefore very important to ensure that AB InBev's takeover of SABMiller did not reduce competition on European beer markets.
The Commission said it is concerned the deal could have led to higher beer prices around the EU.
At global level the merged entity – which has become known as Megabrew – will sell twice as much beer and earn four times more profit than Heineken, currently the third largest brewer, and five times more beer and 12 times more profit than Carlsberg, currently the fourth largest brewer.
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Last month a US antitrust organisation flagged "serious competitive concerns" with the AB InBev takeover of British drinks giant SABMiller.
"An AB InBev-SABMiller combination raises serious competitive concerns in the US beer market," Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) said in a letter to the US Department of Justice.
The proposed merger, which was agreed last October in a £68bn deal, would "incent AB InBev to exercise market power both unilaterally and in coordination with rivals", the AAI said.
"Such effects would likely stifle important competition from smaller market participants such as craft brewers, raise beer prices, reduce quality and choice, and jeopardise innovation in this important sector."