Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Hearing on tap for merger of beer producers Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, (Oct 23, 2015)

By Edward L. Puzzo, J.D.

A Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing on the proposed $103 billion merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, the world’s two biggest beer producers. Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, announced the hearing to examine how potentially anticompetitive market consolidation would affect consumers and smaller competitors, including craft brewers.

Brussels-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, with brands Budweiser and Stella Artois, controls 45 percent of the American beer market. SABMiller owns MillerCoors LLC, a U.S. joint venture with Molson Coors Brewing Company, with brands Coors Light and Miller Light, which controls approximately 25 percent of the American beer market.

A divestiture of SABMiller’s stake in MillerCoors has been discussed to secure regulatory approval, but the divestiture cannot be assumed, Sen. Klobuchar stated. The Subcommittee will be operating under the assumption that the merged entity would control 70 percent of the American beer market.

Companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev; SABMiller PLC

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust