Employees of SABMiller are bracing themselves for thousands of job losses around the world after the brewer agreed to a £68 billion takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
AB InBev, which won the day after its sixth bid in four weeks, is renowned for cost-cutting and analysts said that shrinking SABMiller’s 69,000-strong workforce — it employs 750 people in the UK — would be central to extracting estimated synergies of as much as $2 billion.
The boards of the world’s two biggest brewers said yesterday that they had reached agreement in principle on a £44-a-share cash offer, with a partial share alternative worth £39.03. The second element was designed to avoid a huge tax bill for Altria and BevCo, SABMiller’s two biggest shareholders.
Taking into account both