With Anheuser Bush AB and SAB Miller now owning almost identical stakes in the company, the way is now clear for AB to make a counter-offer to SAB's HK$4.30 bid earlier this week for China's fourth-largest brewery.
There had originally been some doubts about the legality of AB's acquisition of its rival stake from an opportunist consortium Global Conduit Holdings, which is said to have been specifically formed for the deal from a group of Western and foreign institutional investors and hedge funds. The purchase price was HK$3.70 per share compared to an acquisition price of HK$3.25 by Global Conduit. Both are premiums to the HK...
