InBev Goes Hostile

InBev has gone hostile, to no one's great surprise, seeking to replace Anheuser-Busch's (BUD) current board with a new slate of nominees including Adolphus A. Busch IV, who is not to be confused with the current CEO, August A. Busch IV.

This development was an entirely predictable consequence of A-B refusing to enter any kind of talks or negotiations with InBev (INBVF.PK), while quietly encouraging the likes of Missouri senator Claire McCaskill and other opponents of the deal. It's very hard to see how that kind of response could possibly be the consequence of a genuine attempt to get the best possible outcome for A-B's shareholders - and as a result it's very easy to see how InBev could win a proxy battle, should it come to that.

Incidentally, if you're interested in the NY Times (NYT) vs. WSJ (NWS) war, the latter timestamps its story "July 7, 2008 6:59am", while the NYT makes itself appear massively behind the curve with a dateline saying "Published: July 8, 2008". Given that the story was published on the NYT website at 6:51am on July 7 (according to my RSS reader, which might not be entirely accurate), one would think that ought to count as Monday rather than Tuesday.

Comments

[Bob Gary:]

This was a good piece Felix. This topic is hot and heavy now. Obama calling it a shame if Bud were to be acquired by foreigners. David Enke wrote a good piece on that below.

www.greenfaucet.com/fu...

2008 Jul 07 11:29 PM

[nokdzplz:]

Well hello seeking alpha!!!!! Nice to see you have stopped your personal attacks on undeserving people.

2008 Jul 08 10:41 AM