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InBev Swallows Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch has agreed to sell itself to Belgium-based InBev for $52 billion - despite the fact that A-B CEO August Busch IV swore in April that a deal would not happen during his tenure.

The merged company, to be called Anheuser-Busch InBev, will become the world’s largest brewer - and third-largest consumer product company - with $36.4 billion in annual revenue, writes AdAge. A-B’s North American headquarters will remain in St. Louis, and no breweries will be closed, says InBev CEO Carlos Brito, though the new company will cut $1.5 billion in costs by 2011.

Though it is likely the marketing budget will see its share of cost-cutting measures, agency executives remain hopeful that InBev’s plans to expand Budweiser worldwide will create new opportunities. A-B’s primary agencies are DDB, Euro RSCG, LatinWorks, Cannonball, Hill Holliday, TBWA/Chiat/Day and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

InBev, currently the world’s second-largest beer maker - just behind SAB Miller - brews Stella Artois and Beck’s. With the acquisition of A-B, the company will capture half the U.S. beer market, and a fifth of China and Russia, writes the AP.