AB InBev will speed Distell share sale to secure SABMiller | Progresiv
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV agreed to sell SABMiller Plc’s stake in South African drinks maker Distell Group Ltd. over a shorter time period than the three years recommended by the country’s antitrust authority, an attempt to smooth the path toward regulatory approval for the brewing industry’s biggest-ever deal. 
“What was agreed was a shorter time period to effect the divestment,” Frank Snyckers, an advocate for AB InBev and SABMiller, said in an interview in Pretoria. Further details of the commitment are confidential, he said during the first day of a Competition Tribunal hearing into the takeover.
Distell had earlier told the Tribunal that a three-year timeframe to offload the 26 percent stake would create uncertainty for the Stellenbosch, South Africa-based company, which is listed in Johannesburg. It would be in the best interest of Distell and the public if AB InBev disposed of the stake “reasonably quickly,” said the company’s lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett.
South Africa’s Competition Commission recommended AB InBev’s 107 billion dollars acquisition of SABMiller be approved earlier this month, with conditions such as the sale of the 624 million dollarsDistell stake. London-based SABMiller is the second-largest shareholder in the maker of Amarula liquor and Klipdrift brandy, behind billionaire Johann Rupert’s Remgro Ltd., which owns 53 percent. Distell shares gained 1.7 percent to 158.75 rand by the close in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 35 billion rand (2.4 billion dollars).
The acquisition could deliver as much as 18.3 billion dollars in foreign direct investment to the South African economy, Snyckers told the Competition Tribunal. FDI in the country slumped to about 1.5 billion dollars last year, according to Reserve Bank data, the lowest since 2006. (www.esmmagazine.com)
