Following on from the news that Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to buy SABMiller for almost £69 billion ($106 billion) in a record industry deal, Euromonitor's senior analyst for alcoholic drinks, Jeremy Cunnington, says that the deal is of little surprise to the industry.
"It is of little surprise that the acquisition has been completed; the corporate dating game in brewing invariably does. The deal creates a global giant accounting for 29 per cent - assuming US and China divestments - of the 200 billion litre global volumes, more than three times bigger than its nearest rival, Heineken," said Cunnington.
He continued, "With all the major M & A targets now taken, and M & A so important to brewers’ growth, it raises the question of where next for global brewers as they bid to carry on growing.”
He believes that there could be an issue in the premium lager segment in the UK as "the companies combined volumes account for 50 per cent of that price segment", but it depends on how the competition authorities look at the market, he says.
"However, at a total market level, there should be no competition issues as the market is already (and rarely in global brewing) competitive with four major players.”
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