As British Pound Declines, ABI Ups Price For SABMiller

With the British pound in decline in the aftermath of the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union, Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) has made a new “final offer” for acquisition target SABMiller, raising its bid to £79 billion ($103b). The two brewers had agreed on a deal worth £71 billion last fall, a sum which at the time equated to about $107 billion. But with the pound decreasing in value since the Brexit vote, the original offer now amounts to only about $93 billion, and SABMiller investors have begun to question the deal anew.

ABI’s sweetened offer represents a 53% premium to SABMiller’s closing share price on September 14 of last year, when renewed speculation about an ABI takeover heated up, and the company said in a statement that it considers the new bid final. SABMiller stated that it will review the revised offer with its shareholders. Only last week, ABI gained U.S. anti-trust approval to proceed with the acquisition, although it still awaits approval in China. —Daniel Marsteller

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