The SA Breweries you knew and loved, which listed on the JSE back in 1897, is no more. After Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $109bn takeover last month, apprehension is stalking the corridors of the SA beer icon. But for new boss Carlos Brito, the numbers will trump all. A month ago Ricardo Tadeu, the tall Brazilian tasked with leading the 125-year-old SA Breweries after its takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), stood up in the brewer’s Sandton office to address jittery employees. As usual, Tadeu was dressed casually in jeans (he almost never wears a tie). But the atmosphere was tense and the volley of questions he faced was predictable. "Most people wanted to know whether they’d be losing their jobs," says one person who was there. "They all knew AB InBev’s reputation for cutting costs so they wanted to know whether they had a future." The fear was understandable. AB InBev, the company headquartered in Belgium but controlled by the tight-fisted Brazilian private equity company 3G Cap...
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