Anheuser-Busch InBev | Belgian company

Anheuser-Busch InBev, international brewing company created by the 2008 merger of Anheuser-Busch and InBev. It is the largest brewer in the world. The headquarters are in Leuven, Belgium.

InBev—which was founded through the merger (2004) of the Brazilian Companhia de Bebidas das Américas (AmBev) and the Belgian Interbrew SA—was an international brewer that produced more than 200 brands of beer, notably Stella Artois, Bass, and Hoegaarden. In 2008 rumours surfaced that it planned a hostile takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American company that was among the largest makers of beer; its brands included Budweiser and Michelob. The takeover was greeted with opposition in the United States, largely because of the possibility of job losses as well as the prospect of the iconic American brand coming under foreign control. After InBev agreed to certain conditions—namely, that it would not close any breweries in the United States—Anheuser-Busch agreed to be purchased for some $52 billion. The deal was finalized in November 2008, with Anheuser-Busch becoming a subsidiary of the newly formed Anheuser-Busch InBev. The world’s largest brewer, it sold products in more than 100 countries, and in its first full year of operation it reported revenue of more than $36 billion.

In 2015 it was announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev would be acquiring SABMiller, a rival brewer. As part of the deal, SABMiller agreed to sell its stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors, which owned the remainder of MillerCoors. Anheuser-Busch InBev completed the acquisition—valued at more than $100 billion—in October 2016.