Beer colossus Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) has not had a good first year on the JSE. The company’s share price is down 27% since it listed, amid much excitement, in early January. It briefly touched R2,000 in February and again in May before trending down to end the year at about R1,400. Tuesday’s news that the group had managed to sell off the remainder of SABMiller’s European assets to Japan’s Asahi Group for $7.8bn was welcome in the face of an otherwise tough outlook for AB InBev. The price tag was $2bn above the more optimistic of analysts’ expectations. The assets acquired by Asahi include Czech brand Pilsner Urquell, which was taken over by SABMiller in the early days of its European expansion. In addition, several powerful brands in Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary were in the collection sold to the Japanese group. The latest transaction means that Asahi has acquired all of SABMiller’s European operations. Earlier in 2016, it paid $2.7bn for Peroni, Grolsch and craft...
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