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AB InBev Gulps Up Craft Brew

By Paul Whitfield
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Published: June 22nd, 2020
AB InBev bid $221 million for the 68.8% it didn't already own in the Oregon-based boutique beer maker.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV has decided to drink up the rest of its minority-owned boutique brewer Craft Brew Alliance Inc. (BREW).

The world’s biggest beer maker will offer $16.50 per share for the 68.8% it doesn’t already own in CBA, valuing the Portland, Ore.-based maker of Kona, Omission and Red Hook beers at about $321 million.

The offer, announced after the market closed on Monday, Nov. 11, represents a 125% premium to Nasdaq-listed CBA’s closing price of $7.33. CBA stock had traded at more than $15 per share as recently as July, but collapsed after AB InBev, in August, rattled investors’ confidence when it paid a $20 million fee rather than take up an option to buy the remaining CBA stock.

That decision raised questions about the brewing giant’s commitment to CBA, which relies on AB InBev’s distribution network to get the vast majority of its beer to market in the U.S. and for all sales outside of the U.S.

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