Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc, a leading global brewer, announced in a press-release on June 26 that its board of directors has unanimously determined that the unsolicited, non-binding proposal by InBev to acquire all outstanding shares of Anheuser-Busch for $65 per share is financially inadequate and not in the best interests of Anheuser Busch shareholders.

“InBev’s proposal significantly undervalues the unique assets and prospects of Anheuser Busch,” said Patrick Stokes, chairman of the board for the company. “The proposed price does not reflect the strength of Anheuser-Busch’s global, iconic brands Bud Light and Budweiser, the top two selling beer brands in the world, with Budweiser selling in more than 80 countries today. The proposal also undervalues the earnings growth actions that the company had already planned, which have significant potential for shareholder value creation; the company’s market position in the United States, the most-profitable beer market in the world; and the high value of its existing strategic investments.”

The board thoroughly studied the proposal with independent financial and legal advisers on multiple occasions during the two-week period since the proposal was made, and the board’s independent directors also met alone to fully examine its merits.

“The InBev proposal fails to be competitive with ...More Info

InBev announced on June 26 that it remains committed to its proposed combination with Anheuser-Busch, Inc. and its offer of $65 per-share in cash for all of the outstanding common shares of the company, representing an immediate premium of 35% over the unaffected price of the shares.

InBev’s strong preference is to enter into a constructive dialogue with Anheuser-Busch to achieve a friendly combination that comprehensively addresses the interests of all constituents. At the same time, the Company is also seeking a declaratory ruling in Delaware regarding alternative routes to progress the combination to ensure that Anheuser-Busch shareholders preserve their voice in the process.

InBev stated further that it filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking a judgment to confirm that shareholders acting by written consent may under Delaware law remove without cause all thirteen of the present Anheuser-Busch directors, including the five elected in 2006. Under the Charter of Anheuser-Busch and as a matter of Delaware law, it is clear that the eight directors elected after 2006 are subject to removal without cause through the written consent procedure; the filing seeks to confirm that, as InBev strongly believes, the directors elected in 2006 are also now subject to ...More Info

This summer's competition between various beer and beer-like alcoholic drinks will focus on so-called third-category beer, according to industry observers, Japanese media posted on June 23.

Faced with gasoline and food price hikes, consumers are looking for better deals on some products. Third-category beer, which is often made from soybeans, corn and peas, is priced cheaper than regular beer and happoshu low-malt beer.

Beverage makers are fiercely competing to keep prices low, while trying to produce tastes close to that of regular beer.

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. ranks third in sales, followed by Suntory Ltd. However, market observers say sales this summer could see these rankings switch.

The key to third-category beer's success is the low price, and shipments surpassed those of happoshu beer in May.

A 350-milliliter can of third-category beer sells for about 140 yen at convenience stores, about 20 yen less than happoshu and 75 yen less than regular beer.

A consumer who drinks two cans of regular beer a day would save 150 yen by changing to third-category beer, which means they could turn this savings into the purchase of a third can of third-category beer.

Beer makers, believing the sales battle will be fought over third-category ...More Info

SABMiller PLC, the world's largest brewer, has held informal discussions with Grupo Modelo and InBev NV to explore options including a merger of Modelo and SABMiller, Reuters posted on June 24th citing sources familiar with the situation .

Discussions have included the possibility of London-based SABMiller acquiring part or all of Mexico's Modelo, in the event that Belgian-Brazilian InBev succeeds in its proposed $46.3 billion takeover of leading U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc, the sources said.

Anheuser-Busch, which owns 50 percent of Modelo, has also held talks with Modelo about acquiring the other half, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

If Anheuser were to acquire the rest of Modelo -- a portion that analysts have valued at roughly $10 billion -- InBev could be forced to raise its $65-per-share offer for Anheuser or even withdraw its bid.

Analysts expect family-controlled Modelo to refuse Anheuser's advances, leaving it with few weapons to thwart InBev's unsolicited bid.

To that end, InBev has also approached Modelo, assuring Mexico's top brewer that if its takeover of Anheuser-Busch is done, Modelo would still have all its options open, including the status quo, buying back Anheuser-Busch's stake, or selling out to InBev in return for InBev stock.

Officials at ...More Info

Euro 2008's official beer brewers had seen a satisfying 20 % boost in sales during the tournament, thanks especially to tens of thousands of thirsty Dutch supporters, Reuters communicated on June 27.

Swiss brewery Feldschloesschen, a subsidiary of tournament sponsors Carlsberg, said it shifted an extra five million litres of beer through its exclusive sales arrangement at stadiums and fanzones in the eight Swiss and Austrian host cities.

The company said in a statement the figures for Switzerland showed a 20 percent rise in sales in the country compared to the same period last year.

Spokesman Markus Werner said the firm had originally targeted an increase of up to 15 percent.

Feldschloesschen CEO Thomas Amstutz said the huge numbers of fantastic Dutch fans and the trouble-free atmosphere in the fanzones helped offset poor weather at the start of the June 7-29 tournament and the early exit of the Switzerland team.

Netherlands supporters took over the Swiss capital Berne for their team's three group matches and some 100,000 fans were in Basel where the Dutch lost to Russia in the quarter-final.

French group Malteurop recently signed an agreement with the Russian Brewing and Beverage Company Ochakovo on the possible sale of its Malting plant located in Belgorod to the Malteurop group, a subsidiary of the holding SICLAE of which Champagne Céréales Group is the main shareholder.

The prospect of Anheuser-Busch being taken over by a brewing company with roots in Belgium and Brazil has made some Northern Plains barley growers uneasy, The Associated Press posted on June 26.

Budweiser is king in Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, where nearly three-fourths of the nation's barley is grown. Fairfield, in north-central Montana, even touts itself as the "Barley Capital of the World." Malt barley from the region also finds its way into beers brewed by Coors, Miller and international companies that include Grupo Modelo SA, a Mexican producer that recently built an Idaho Falls, Idaho, plant to process barley into malt.

News that InBev SA, formed in 2004 from beverage companies in Belgium and Brazil, made an unsolicited offer of roughly $46 billion for Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos. unsettled some barley growers because many sign preseason contracts with the St. Louis company. Under those contracts, farmers sell their best barley to Anheuser-Busch rather than chance selling it on the open market.

The prospect of a hostile takeover remained Thursday after Anheuser-Busch, brewer of Bud Light and Michelob as well as Budweiser, unanimously rejected InBev's offer of June 11. Anheuser-Busch Chairman Patrick Stokes said the proposal undervalued the company. In what could ...More Info

The Hop Research Institute in Zatec with a financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic published a new Atlas of Czech hop varieties, Hop-growers Union of the Czech Republic published on June 24th. Czech hop varieties are described according to their brewing characteristics: Saaz as a fine aroma variety, Sladek, Harmonie, Bor and Premiant as aroma varieties and varieties Agnus and Rubin as representatives of bitter varieties.

Each variety is presented with an overall view at the vegetation of the variety, with its origin and registration year. Further each variety is accompanied with its characteristics including agro-technical differences. Results of chemical analysis of hop resins, hop oils and hop polyphenols are part of the publication. Two innovations were integrated into the new atlas. Firstly it is the genetic DNA analysis. With the dendogram it is possible to evaluate the genetic relations to other hop varieties from the whole world. Secondly the new publication brings an evaluation of the influence of Czech hop varieties on beer bitterness.

“The Atlas was prepared for promotion of Czech hop varieties that is for breweries and merchants. We have encountered also a great interest from the education side” said Mr. Zdenek Rosa, ...More Info

Andreas Graner, Thomas Thiel, Hangning Zhang, Elena Potokina, Mmanoj Prasad, Dragan Perovic, Raja Kota, Rajeev Kumar Varshney, Uwe Scholz, Ivo Grosse and Nils Stein. Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany

Abstract
Abstract: As a resource for structural and functional barley genome analysis, more than 140 000 ESTs (expressed sequence tags) were generated from 22 cDNA libraries that yielded 25 224 tentative unigenes. About 50% of them belong to gene families. The size of the complete transcriptome is estimated to comprise between 35 000 and 75 000 genes. The barley EST collection is a rich source for the development of novel markers including SSRs (simple sequence repeats) and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms). Several bioinformatic tools have been developed facilitating the computer-assisted analysis of EST databases for the presence of either SNPs or SSRs and the development of SNP-derived CAPS (cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences) markers. In an attempt to systematically map barley genes a high-density transcript map is under construction and presently comprises more than 1000 markers. This map is a gateway to comparative genomics with particular emphasis on the rice genome. 65% of the mapped ESTs showing a significant homology to rice ESTs were found to display a syntenic relationship between barley and rice. Thus, the barley EST resource facilitates the rapid and systematic transfer of genetic information from rice to barley and other Triticeae, which can readily be exploited for marker saturation of defined chromosome regions and their detailed comparison to rice. In the context of a functional genomics study, the complex trait “malting quality” is investigated using a barley cDNA array. By correlating the phenotypic malting trait data of selected barley lines with the corresponding expression profiles, a set of candidate genes was identified and further verified by genetic analysis. Keywords: ESTs; functional genomics; malting quality; DNA-marker; rice; synteny ... Load full article, 8 pages, 363 Kb, PDF file