http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/05 ... ser-busch/



EEeekkk. Better start learning French... go back to our roots!

I like how the article noted that Inbev was expecting a cool reception from August Busch. The article appeared to imply that AB wasn't very interested. Good.

AB = Top Management.



The only way it would go through is if AB Top management got to remain "top management." For the regular management and folks... all "hell" will be leashed. Inbev is known for their great costing cutting skills.

zink wrote:AB = Top Management.



The only way it would go through is if AB Top management got to remain "top management." For the regular management and folks... all "hell" will be leashed. Inbev is known for their great costing cutting skills.

The only way it will go through is if the shareholders vote yes. At $65/shr, I suspect an overwhelming majority of them will.

I do not see this going through...InBev supposedly is not going to push the issue if AB is not interested. There are other irons in the fire that they have with brewing partners (think south) that are looking to be expanded. InBev will be careful with their moves...being that they are already strategic partners with AB. I do not see hostile take over in the future.

Interesting. Out of the 730M shares or so outstanding, the largest institutional holder has only about 5% (and the top 10 have only about 25%). I wonder where the control lies?



Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 35,563,200

Barclays Global Investors, N.A. 33,569,917

State Street Global Advisors (US) 24,927,398

Vanguard Group, Inc. 22,130,250

T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. 17,960,002

Columbia Management Advisors, Inc. 14,529,441

FAF Advisors, Inc. 12,444,604 -

UBS Global Asset Management (Americas), Inc. 7,975,633

Northern Trust Investments, N.A. 6,657,772

BNY Mellon Wealth Management 6,611,069

Yahoo shows a more recent count.



Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd 43,704,428 6.13

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY, INC 35,563,200 4.99

STATE STREET CORPORATION 23,837,782 3.34

VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE) 22,130,250 3.10

PRICE (T.ROWE) ASSOCIATES INC 17,432,622 2.44

BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION 14,947,246 2.10 $

U.S. BANCORP (MINNESOTA) 12,364,605 1.73

Allianz Global Investors of America L.P. 10,139,271 1.42

NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION 9,206,965 1.29

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 8,655,574 1.21

There certainly is no one close to being a controlling shareholder.

From an accounting standpoint there may not be a "controlling shareholder" but I'm quite sure there are at least one to two parties who act as controlling shareholders (from an influence standpoint).



That said, remember when AG Edwards said they had been independent for however long and then literally less than a month later the buyout was announced? Yeah, don't believe anything written in the papers. I just hope that AB politely says no and stays independent.

bonwich wrote:Yahoo shows a more recent count.



Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd 43,704,428 6.13

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY, INC 35,563,200 4.99

STATE STREET CORPORATION 23,837,782 3.34

VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE) 22,130,250 3.10

PRICE (T.ROWE) ASSOCIATES INC 17,432,622 2.44

BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION 14,947,246 2.10 $

U.S. BANCORP (MINNESOTA) 12,364,605 1.73

Allianz Global Investors of America L.P. 10,139,271 1.42

NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION 9,206,965 1.29

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 8,655,574 1.21

The question is, what are the combined holdings of all of the various Busch family members? Busch III never ranked very high on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans because the Busch family interest in A-B has been divided amongst hundreds of people. I remember reading awhile ago that, combined, descendants of Adolphus Busch still control somewhere between 10 to 20% of the company. Hardly a controlling interest, even assuming they would all vote against the offer, but the number of shares owned by III and IV doesn't adequately represent their influence.

TB1000 wrote:

There certainly is no one close to being a controlling shareholder.

From an accounting standpoint there may not be a "controlling shareholder" but I'm quite sure there are at least one to two parties who act as controlling shareholders (from an influence standpoint).



That said, remember when AG Edwards said they had been independent for however long and then literally less than a month later the buyout was announced? Yeah, don't believe anything written in the papers. I just hope that AB politely says no and stays independent.

"AB" doesn't get a vote.



As to AG Edwards, a lot of people assumed that Ben Edwards was involved in the takeover negotiations. He wasn't.



Likewise, AB III & AB IV have no say in this. It's the shareholders, a lot of whom are institutional investors. They will vote "yes", guaranteed.

[quote They will vote "yes", guaranteed[/quote]



sad. I REALLY hope this doesn't go through. This isn't AG Edwards either, A-B is MUCH more recognizable to the average American. I could be wrong, but I think there might be a public backlash against this deal. I hope there is.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

jlblues wrote:

bonwich wrote:Yahoo shows a more recent count.



Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd 43,704,428 6.13

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY, INC 35,563,200 4.99

STATE STREET CORPORATION 23,837,782 3.34

VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE) 22,130,250 3.10

PRICE (T.ROWE) ASSOCIATES INC 17,432,622 2.44

BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION 14,947,246 2.10 $

U.S. BANCORP (MINNESOTA) 12,364,605 1.73

Allianz Global Investors of America L.P. 10,139,271 1.42

NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION 9,206,965 1.29

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 8,655,574 1.21

The question is, what are the combined holdings of all of the various Busch family members? Busch III never ranked very high on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans because the Busch family interest in A-B has been divided amongst hundreds of people. I remember reading awhile ago that, combined, descendants of Adolphus Busch still control somewhere between 10 to 20% of the company. Hardly a controlling interest, even assuming they would all vote against the offer, but the number of shares owned by III and IV doesn't adequately represent their influence.

III + IV < 2%, last I checked.

As I said, I'm not talking about III + IV. I'm talking about all of the Busch siblings, cousins, in-laws, etc. that own A-B stock. That amounts to far more than 2%, I'm sure. I know several members of the Busch family, from a couple of different branches - not one of whom has the last name Busch - and most of them have A-B stock that has been passed down from generation to generation.

It will be interesting to see if A-B purchases the remaining 50% of Grupo Modelo as a defensive strategy.

^I'm not sure I understand this theory. Grupo Modelo is about a $7 billion company, of which A-B already owns half. I don't think purchasing the other half of GM would put A-B out of reach for InBev. An acquisition of that size would leave A-B with debt and possibly dilute their stock, which would lower A-B's share price, simply making it easier to acquire. All it would do is delay the inevitable. Furthermore, I suspect that if GM wanted to be acquired, A-B would own it already. So A-B would have to grossly overpay and/or undertake a hostile takeover of their own to acquire Grupo Modelo, just to avert a good offer from InBev. Doesn't make much sense to me.

^anti-trust?

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:A source at the brewery says Mr. Buffett was there on Friday.



Here's a scenario I hadn't considered until just now - Berkshire buys AB.



Discuss.

My understanding is the Buffett was there on Friday to review the deal and for AB to get him behind voting No on a take over bid, as he owns 5% of the stock. According to sources I know, AB has about 40% of the shareholders behind them to vote No on a takeover (if it came to a vote)...so they need to secure the other 11% to ensure this.



I also hear the GM acquisition is being actively pursued.

^ 10% and one vote extra.



Berkshire would never buy a controlling interest in A-B.

Just heard on 550 that InBev was interested in persuing SAB Miller if a deal with AB couldn't be reached. Sounds like AB is gonna turn this buyout down