SABMiller rejects AB InBev's informal takeover offer

SABMiller has rejected an informal takeover offer of about £66.4bn (€89.77bn,$ 101.22bn) from its Belgium peer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV calling it "too low". Following the news, the UK-based brewer's shares fell about 3.9% on 6 October.

The Belgium brewer had last week offered over £40 per share for SAB. However, executives and some stakeholders consider the valuation lower-than-expected and claimed that about £45 per share was a fair price. At this price the company would be valued at about £73bn.

While, SABMiller has informed AB InBev about the terms at which it would be willing to re-negotiate the offer, there is a possibility that the Belgium company may walk away from the offer, Bloomberg reported.

"AB InBev is unlikely to have gone this far unless it intends to see it through. We still believe that a transaction with SABMiller would be financially and strategically compelling, even at a potentially higher than previously assumed offer price," Robert Ottenstein, an analyst at Evercore ISI said.

Chief executive officer of South African state-owned pension fund The Public Investment Corp, Daniel Matjila said, "Quite frankly I'm not in favor of it, We may be creating some kind of a monopoly going forward which may have a serious impact on the global economy and beer market in general."

While SABMiller is the world's second largest brewer, making beers such as Peroni and Grolsch, its Belgium-based peer is the world's largest brewer whose products include Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona.

SAB reported earlier on Tuesday that group revenue, excluding currency effects, rose 6% in its second quarter, which ended on 30 September, while volumes rose 2%. That marked an improvement from the first quarter, when revenue rose 3% and volume was flat.

SAB also reported that its group revenues for the second quarter excluding currency effects rose 6% and its volumes rose 2%, a significant improvement in comparison to its first quarter numbers.

According to UK takeover rules, AB InBev has to either make an offer or announce its intention not to proceed by 5pm on 14 October.