InBev plans brewery in North India

Beer major InBev is planning to set up a greenfield facility in North India and is also working on making its brands available in more states, including Maharastra, by June next year.

“The new unit (for producing beer) will either come up in Haryana or Rajasthan, with an investment of around Rs 70-80 crore excluding land costs,” InBev India International Pvt Ltd Chief Executive Officer, Mr Raja Mukherji, told PTI.

Currently, InBev's products are available in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and by the second quarter of 2009, it will be available in more states, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The company is looking at setting up the greenfield brewery in North India with a capacity of around 3-4 million cases per annum, he said. It is in the process of finalising long-term contracts with breweries to manufacture its brands in different states.

China okays InBev takeover of AB with condition

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) approved InBev's buyout of the U.S. company, Anheuser-Busch Cos. (A-B), saying the merger will not damage competition in the Chinese beer market.

"The MOC decided not to prohibit the merger as it will not limit competition in the Chinese market in terms of regions and products," the statement said.

The MOC did restrict the two companies from increasing their existing stake in Chinese beer makers in order to "reduce the negative impact on future competition in the domestic market".

A-B cannot boost its 27 percent share in Tsingtao Brewer Co. and the Belgian brewer cannot increase its existing 28.56 percent stake in Zhujiang Beer.

The MOC also demanded that InBev not seek shar...

AB InBev Lenders Said to Offer Loans at 9% Discount

Lenders to Anheuser-Busch InBev NV are offering to sell part of the brewer’s $45 billion of senior loans for as little as 91 cents on the dollar, according to two people familiar with the transaction.

InBev NV, based in Leuven, Belgium, raised the second- biggest loan ever to help finance the $52 billion acquisition of Budweiser-maker Anheuser-Busch Cos. last month. The lenders started offering the debt to other investors today, said the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private.

Ex-Lehman Employees Charged in Insider-Trading Case

An ex-Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. salesman was accused of insider trading for passing along confidential tips gleaned from his wife, a Brunswick Group public-relations executive involved in corporate deals.

U.S. prosecutors in New York filed criminal charges today against ex-Lehman salesmen Matthew Devlin and Frederick Bowers, lawyer Eric Holzer, and two day traders over illegal trades in a dozen transactions, including Mylan Inc.’s $1.2 billion stock buyback in 2005 and InBev NV’s acquisition of Anheuser-Busch Cos. in July.

AB InBev job cuts

During the restructuring efforts of the corporate workforce in the newly established Anheuser-Busch InBev Inc., total of 1850 people lost their jobs. 1400 of these were full time employees and the rest were long-time consultants.

Being a consultant for this firm, I also experienced the terrific and stressful hours of waiting about "the" phonecall today. Although I was one of the few consultants lucky enough to stay in the company, most of my friends who are both in full time and consultant workforce lost their jobs. It will weird to go back to work tomorrow morning and not see them in the office.

The transition of the workload will also be interesting. It looks like many projects will have to move forward with almost half of the people they had before today. This means more work for all... I hope this will help me to gain more experience both in business analyst and project management roles in the long-run.

Anheuser-Busch InBev will cut 1,400 U.S. jobs

BRUSSELS — Anheuser-Busch InBev said Monday it will cut some 1,400 U.S. jobs — another 6% of its U.S. work force — to help save the world's largest brewer at least $1.5 billion a year.
It said three-quarters of the jobs will go from Anheuser's North American headquarters in St. Louis, both downtown and its Sunset Hills campus.
The job cuts go beyond plans Anheuser-Busch announced this summer to streamline costs, before it agreed to be taken over by Belgium-based InBev.

The company said the job losses will help it save at least $1.5 billion a year by 2011 and cope with a "challenging economy." Most of the cuts will be made by the end of the year.

Anheuser-Busch provides half of America's beer, but it has not expanded around the world as fast as InBev — a Belgian-Brazilian hybrid that owns hundreds of local brands but few real stars.


InBev wrapped up its takeover of Anheuser-Busch last month, after a bitter takeover battle turned sweet with a higher $52 billion bid.


Anheuser-Busch had 8,600 salaried workers this summer and had planned to reduce that by 10% to 15%, mostly by offering some 1,000 employees a voluntary early retirement package. That aimed to save the brewer some $1 billion a year. The new job losses mean the brewer will lose around a quarter of the salaried workers it had at the start of 2008. More than 250 unfilled jobs will be slashed and 415 contractor positions will be eliminated. About a quarter of the jobs to go will be in field and brewery locations, it said.


"To keep the business strong and competitive, this is a necessary but difficult move for the company," said Anheuser-Busch president David Peacock.
Workers who form part of a trade union at the company's 12 breweries in North America will not be affected. InBev had pledged not to close any breweries as long as it was not forced to pay any extra taxes. The job cuts will cost the company $197 million before tax, mostly in severance payments and pension benefits. The takeover deal gave InBev control of America's iconic Budweiser beer — and gave Bud the chance to sell more widely into rapidly growing markets in Latin America, eastern Europe and Asia, where InBev draws most of its profit. Beer sales in North America and Europe are slowly declining. InBev is renowned for its tight cost control since the company was formed in a 2004 merger between Brazil's AmBev and Belgium's Interbrew. The Brazilian management team who headed the company had a sharp focus on costs that came as a shock to the European business.

U.S. Dept. Of Justice Clears Inbev Merger With Anheuser-Busch

Global brewers InBev and Anheuser-Busch have reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that satisfies its requirement to approve the transaction, the companies announced today.

Terms of the agreement call for InBev to grant a perpetual and exclusive license to brew, market, distribute and sell the Labatt beer brands in the United States to an independent third party. Labatt Brewing in Canada will be allowed to brew and supply the Labatt brands to the U.S. licensee for an interim period of three years. The existing Labatt USA operations, based in Buffalo, N.Y., that currently support the brand in the market will be sold to the licensee.