Carlos Brito
2016 BUSINESS NEWSMAKER: Brewing up a storm
Dealing with all the demands attendant on a deal the size of ‘Megabrew’ — and one involving an SA icon — meant that Carlos Brito and his transaction were rarely off the front pages during 2016
Carlos Brito became a 2016 newsmaker of the year contender as far back as November 10 2015. That was the day the CEO of the largest beer company in the world formally announced a bid for the second largest. Anheuser-Busch InBev’s £79bn offer for SABMiller broke all sorts of records: it was the largest-ever merger in the global consumer industry; the largest-ever transaction involving a JSE-listed company; and the merged entity was set to dominate the global beer industry, accounting for about 27% of worldwide sales and almost 50% of global industry profit. But perhaps what clinched the title for Brito as Financial Mail’s business newsmaker was that this mega-deal involved one of SA’s corporate icons. SAB’s 17-year development into the SABMiller organisation acquired by AB InBev was one of the few SA stories of a local hero making good on the global stage. Inevitably, every step between AB InBev’s offer and shareholders’ acceptance was going to be watched very closely by the media. T...
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