USA: Regulators investigating AB InBev’s distribution incentives

U.S. antitrust regulators are investigating Anheuser-Busch InBev's distribution incentives as part of its review of the company's planned $107 billion takeover of rival brewer SABMiller, St. Louis Business Journal reported on May 25.

Officials are looking into AB InBev incentives, introduced at a distributors' meeting late last year, that encourage independent distributors to sell more of its beer brands at the expense of craft brewery competitors, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Justice Department investigators have contacted both beer distributors and craft brewers to ask about AB InBev's incentive plans and other moves to curb promotion of craft brews by distributors, the sources told Reuters. The Department of Justice declined to comment to Reuters.

Under AB InBev's incentive plan, the greater the share of rival beers sold by a distributor, the less of a refund it gets from the company for advertising AB InBev beers, according to documents provided by the company to lawmakers, Reuters reports.

An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told the news agency, "Our voluntary incentive program clearly does not prevent or inhibit other brands from getting to market," noting that nearly all AB InBev distributors represent other brands.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice investigated AB InBev's plan to acquire distributors after craft brewers' complained that the Belgium-based brewer was looking to cut competition, according to the news agency. Since then, the company's buyout of two distributors each in California and Colorado and one in New York have closed.

AB InBev, which has 45.8 percent of the U.S. beer market, has offered to divest all of SABMiller's U.S. assets, so it's not expected that the companies' planned merger will be held up over craft brewers' complaints, Reuters reports.

Separately, the European Commission announced on May 24 it has cleared the deal under the EU Merger Regulation, adding that the clearance is conditional on AB InBev “selling practically the entire SABMiller beer business in Europe.”

25 May, 2016