Beer industry faces shake-up as SABMiller bids for Heineken

SABMiller has reportedly made an offer to buy Heineken in a deal that would shake up the brewing world and defend it against a possible takeover from its much-larger rival, Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI).

The Heineken family, which owns a controlling interest in the Amsterdam-based group, has rejected the FTSE 100 group’s offer to combine the world’s second and third-largest brewers.

SABMiller, the owner of Peroni, Grolsch and Coors, has long been a purported bid target for Belgium’s ABI, the world’s biggest brewer, although it has not received any offer.

Any deal would mark a further consolidation of the industry following the $52bn merger of Anheuser-Busch and InBev that created ABI in 2009. The size of SABMiller’s bid for Heineken is unknown, but the group has a stock market value of around €34bn (£27bn).

However, the Heineken founding family has rejected the offer and said it is unwilling to lose control of the group, Bloomberg reported. The family owns a majority share in a holding company that itself owns 50pc of the Dutch brewer, giving it control of the group despite not having a majority stake.

Heineken, whose other products include Sol, Tiger and Strongbow, has struggled with sales declines in Europe while SABMiller has continued to grow in its key emerging markets, but has seen something of a rebound in recent months.

SABMiller has also been rumoured to be considering a tie-up with Diageo, the multinational drinks group behind Guinness and Smirnoff, in order to ward off interest from ABI.

Both SABMiller and Heineken declined to comment.

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