DealBook: Anheuser- Busch Reaches Deal With Antitrust Regulators

Matt Rourke/Associated PressGrupo Modelo makes Corona.

11:36 a.m. | Updated

Anheuser-Busch InBev announced on Friday that it had received government approval for for its $20.1 billion deal to buy control of Grupo Modelo, the maker of Corona beer.

The Obama administration sued on Jan. 31 to block the takeover, arguing that the deal would give Anheuser-Busch InBev too much control over the American beer market, potentially reducing choices.

The agreement filed with the court on Friday resolves the regulatory concerns. Under the deal, Constellations Brands will pay about $5 billion to buy Anheuser Busch InBev’s 50 percent stake in Crown Imports, the company that imports Corona into the United States, as well as some breweries and operations. Constellation, one of the world’s largest wine companies, already owns half of Crown alongside Modelo.

Related Links

• Document: Ruling on Beer Deal’s Antitrust Suit
• Anheuser-Busch Merger Deal Clears an Antitrust Hurdle (April 5, 2013)

The Mexican Competition Commission approved the revised transaction in early April, the companies said.

Analysts have largely expected Anheuser-Busch InBev and the Justice Department to reach an accord on reasonable terms. The company has long regarded holding on to the United States rights to Corona and other brands less important than keeping control of Modelo’s operations elsewhere.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewing company, was created in 2008 through the $52 billion merger of Anheuser-Busch and the Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev. The proposed $20.1 billion deal for Grupo Modelo would be the second-largest takeover in the beer industry after that merger, according to Thomson Reuters.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/anheuser-busch-reaches-deal-with-antitrust-regulators/?partner=rss&emc=rss