An extra pound a pint? Aberdeen Asset Management’s not impressed by new Megabrew offer
The Megabrew deal lost its cool today, as some key shareholders revealed they were unimpressed by Anheuser-Busch InBev's latest offer for SABMiller's shares.
Aberdeen Asset Management has slammed the offer, which would see AB InBev fork out £45 in cash for each SABMiller share.
The new offer, which was announced earlier this morning, is an increase of £1 per share on the £44 originally offered. The price boost means the deal now values SABMiller's share capital at around £79bn.
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The new offer represents a premium of approximately 53 per cent on SABMiller's closing share price of £29.34 on 14 September 2015, the last day of trading before speculation about the merger caused shares to rocket.
However, the move would also boost a partial share alternative offer to around £51.14 per share in value.
Investors have argued the higher value unfairly benefits the company's two largest shareholders, Altria and the Santo Domingo brewing company, as these are the only two likely to be able to take advantage of it.
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AB InBev added in its statement that this was its final offer and no further price increases were in the pipeline.
SABMiller confirmed the two companies had been conversation last week about amending the deal to take into account the wild swings in currency and in the markets since last month's Brexit vote.
SABMiller added it would continue to discuss the deal with shareholders to get their feedback.
Read more: Revenues up at SABMiller as it inches closer to completion on Megabrew deal
The so-called Megabrew merger has had a bumpy road to completion. Last week, the companies were forced to calm disgruntled investors who were less than thrilled with the price on offer and believed the terms and conditions of the deal benefited some shareholders more than others.
In addition, the two beer giants have often been left holding their breath to see if the deal would get through competition watchdogs in various jurisdictions.
Despite being warned by the American Antitrust Institute in April that the deal posed "serious competitive concerns", the US Department of Justice gave the merger its blessing last week.
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Although there were some initial hiccups, the merger has also received the green light from competition authorities in both the EU and South Africa.
However, this approval came at a cost, with SABMiller agreeing to shed much of its European beer portfolio, including Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime.