DealBook: Anheuser-Busch InBev Revises Grupo Modelo Deal

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated PressAnheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of Budweiser, is trying to buy control of Grupo Modelo for $20.1 billion.

LONDON – Anheuser-Busch InBev on Thursday revised its $20.1 billion deal for Grupo Modelo, the Mexican maker of Corona beer, in an effort to persuade American antitrust authorities to let the deal proceed.

Under the revised terms, the company offered to sell the rights to Corona and other Grupo Modelo brands in the United States to Constellation Brands, the world’s largest wine company, for $2.9 billion.

A brewery close to the United States-Mexico border currently owned by Grupo Modelo would be sold to Constellation, as well as the perpetual licensing rights to Grupo Modelo’s brands in the United States.

Constellation had agreed to pay $1.85 billion for the 50 percent stake it did not already own in Crown Imports, a joint venture with Grupo Modelo, as part of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s original terms of its proposed takeover of the Mexican brewer.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s decision to sell Compañía Cervecera de Coahuila, the Mexican brewery that produces Corona, Corona Light and Modelo Especial, is an effort to satisfy regulators after the Justice Department sued last month to block the deal.

United States authorities said the proposed merger would increase Anheuser-Busch InBev’s control of the American beer market and enable it to raise prices. Grupo Modelo is the No. 3 beer company in the United States; Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest, ahead of MillerCoors.

Anheuser-Busch InBev said the revised deal would give Constellation an independent brewing business, as well as lead Grupo Modelo to divest all of its American operations.

“We believe this revised agreement addresses all of the concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice in its lawsuit, leaving no doubt about Constellation’s Crown beer division’s complete independence and ability to compete,” Anheuser-Busch InBev said in a statement on Thursday.

Analysts said the new offer, which caught some off guard, could provide the concessions American regulators were seeking.

“The quick settlement is no doubt surprising, but also shows practicality from the Anheuser-Busch InBev side,” Pablo Zuanic, an analyst at Liberum Capital, wrote in a note to investors on Thursday.

Anheuser-Busch InBev shares rose more than 5 percent in morning trading in Brussels on Thursday.

The company added that its proposed deal for Grupo Modelo was still subject to the Justice Department’s legal challenge, and that the new agreement with Constellation was dependent on the completion of the $20.1 billion acquisition.

The move to block the proposed merger is the first time in more than a decade that American regulators have tried to slow down the consolidation in the global beer industry.

A series of takeovers have left a small number of companies in control of many of the world’s leading beer brands, and have led Anheuser-Busch InBev to become the world’s leading brewing company. The company was created in 2008 through the merger of Anheuser-Busch and the Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev.

Anheuser-Busch InBev said it had increased its projections for annual cost savings from the Grupo Modelo deal by 66 percent, to $1 billion, from estimates provided when the deal was first announced last year. The terms of the original deal for Grupo Modelo remain unchanged, according to a company statement.

Lazard is advising Anheuser-Busch InBev on the deal, while Morgan Stanley is advising Grupo Modelo.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/anheuser-busch-inbev-revises-deal-for-grupo-modelo/?partner=rss&emc=rss