InBev, Anheuser Become Big Happy Family

Looks like the lobbying fight was all about money.

After turning down an initial bid from Belgian-Brazilian suitor InBev, Anheuser-Busch accepted a higher bid of $70 per share. That’s a $52 billion price tag for the King of Beers, up from $46 billion.

The companies today announced their formal agreement to combine into the world’s largest brewer with the very inventive name of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The new company also will rank the fifth largest consumer product company in the world.

St. Louis, Mo., Budweiser’s current hometown, will become North American HQ for the new company, as well as “global home” of the Budweiser brand. All of A-B’s U.S. breweries will remain open for business, the companies said.

The Sunday announcement that A-B would take the higher offer came after things took a nasty turn last week. A-B announced it was filing a lawsuit claiming InBev had misled investors in its initial bid.

Full press release after the jump.
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