Dutch brewer Heineken NV said Sunday that U.K.-based rival
SABMiller PLC has approached it about being acquired but that
Heineken's controlling family intends to keep the company
independent.
"Heineken has consulted with its majority shareholder and
concluded that SABMiller's proposal is nonactionable," Heineken
said in a written statement.
The Amsterdam-based company, the world's third-largest brewer by
volume, added in the statement that the controlling Heineken family
has informed SABMiller "of its intention to preserve the heritage
and identity of Heineken as an independent company."
An SABMiller spokeswoman in London declined to comment on
Heineken's statement.
Bloomberg reported earlier Sunday that SABMiller, the world's
second-largest brewer, had approached Heineken in the last two
weeks about a potential acquisition but had been rebuffed.
The Heineken family controls just over 50% of the voting shares
and a minority equity stake in publicly traded Heineken.
Sunday's disclosure comes amid growing speculation that the
global beer industry could be headed for another round of
consolidation.
Much of the speculation in the industry and in financial markets
in recent years has centered around Belgium's Anheuser Busch InBev
NV, the world's largest brewer, potentially trying to acquire
SABMiller.
AB InBev has built up a roughly 20% market share of the global
beer market by volume after several large acquisitions in the past
decade, including its $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in
2008 and $20.1 billion takeover of leading Mexican brewer Grupo
Modelo last year.
A combined Heineken-SABMiller would be roughly as large as AB
InBev, making it harder for AB InBev to acquire either company.
SABMiller and Heineken have also bulked up through
multi-billion-dollar acquisitions over the past decade.
AB InBev declined to comment Sunday.
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