• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

AB InBev purchase of SABMiller is finally approved; here are the important modifications

October 30, 2018Keith Gribbins

AB InBev logo

Man, remember when Anheuser-Busch InBev announced it was buying SABMiller for $100 billion back in 2016? Well the acquisition finally got approved like a week ago. United States District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan approved the merger by signing what’s called a Modified Final Judgment. Basically, the Department of Justice and ABI negotiated some modifications to the consent decree to try, in theory, to tame the ever-expanding girth of ABI.

A lot of the Modified Final Judgement had to do with distribution. The judgement made it more difficult for ABI to buy distributors, break or negotiate contracts with them, retaliate against wholesalers, require reporting about a distributor’s business or give incentives to those beer distributors. The judgment also comes with a “Monitoring Trustee,” who will have the authority to investigate complaints against the mega brewer.

Also, ABI isn’t supposed to complete any acquisitions of “a beer brewer, importer, distributor, or brand owner that derives more than $7.5 million in annual gross revenue from beer sold for further resale in the territory, or from license fees generated by such beer sales.” Let it be noted that since the Department of Justice filed its antitrust complaint in 2016, ABI has bought Wicked Weed Brewing Co., SpikedSeltzer and Virtue Cider (the remaining stake at least).

Twelve organizations and businesses filed responses — from the Brewers Association and the National Beer Wholesalers Association to Yuengling and Ninkasi Brewing.

The consent decree will expire in eight years (10 years overall, from 2016), but it could also be terminated in five if the Department of Justice concludes it’s no longer in the best interest of the public. Now that all these safeguards have been put in place, we can all rest easy, right? Probably not. From Brewbound:

Nevertheless, now that the consent decree is officially signed, sources with knowledge of A-B InBev’s business who spoke to Brewbound believe the company could once again become a more active dealmaker for both breweries and distributors.

ABI now controls between 45 to 50 percent beer market share in America, but the company does not own rights to distribute SABMiller products in the United States. Molson Coors owns those rights in America via its American subsidiary MillerCoors. SABMiller sold its share in MillerCoors for $12 billion back in 2016 in order to get this deal done.

Budweiser Coors Sam Adams Sierra Nevada
National Beer Wholesalers Association addresses the many perils of an AB InBev/SABMiller merger with Congress
SAB Miller cbb crop Miller 64
Release the lawyers! West coast brewers sue over AB InBev/SABMiller merger
AB InBev logo
Money: Here’s Big Beer’s five step plan to ‘crush the craft beer revolution’
Anheuser_Busch_InBev
AB InBev to buy SABMiller for $104 billion (a deal that largely does not concern the U.S. market)

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. On The Point says

    October 31, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    @RedTheTrucker @cookiethree

    Log in to Reply
  2. Jeremy Weiss says

    October 30, 2018 at 10:38 am

    Mark Lang

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • MicroStar Logistics launches Network Services Division to manage reusable plastic pallets for the beer Industry
  • Analyst speculates on Heineken acquiring Boston Beer, stock jumps
  • United States Bartenders’ Guild now has access to WOTVS Hospitality Assistance Program
  • Tröegs new canning line will increase production and accommodate new packaging types

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Koga-brothers-karben4Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
    March 20, 2023
  • 4 steps to understanding the filtration process in craft beer
    March 20, 2023
  • newbelgium_2023_wildnectar-shopping-basket_family_IMG_2Beyond beer: Examples of craft breweries exploring canned cocktails
    March 16, 2023
  • brooklyn 35 featureBrooklyn Lager turns 35 and more beers to know this week
    March 14, 2023
  • Backwoods Brewing to open a 19-acre resort called Party Acres in the Columbia River gorge this May
    March 13, 2023
  • Distribution update: NYC’s Alewife Brewing now sells in eastern Pennsylvania + news from Maui, Urban South and more
    March 13, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC