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 Investors on Monday were expecting an improvement to AB InBev's last
offer, which at 42.15 pounds per share in cash for most shareholders
was rejected by SABMiller as "very substantially" undervaluing the
company.
A higher offer in the range of 43 to 44 pounds a share is a
possibility, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
AB InBev has until 1600 GMT on Wednesday to launch a formal bid for
the maker of Peroni and Grolsch, in what would be the biggest UK
company takeover ever. It has already made three informal offers,
which were rejected by SAB's board excluding the three directors
nominated by cigarette maker Altria Group, SAB's largest shareholder
with a 27 percent stake.
South Africa's Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Poland's Kulczyk
Holding and Scotland's Aberdeen Asset Investments - respectively
SABMiller's fourth, fifth and seventh-largest shareholders - have
all publicly sided with SABMiller. Altogether their holdings account
for 8.2 percent of the company.
"We have confidence in the board and we will rely on their judgment.
They have said the price is too low and we agree with them," Dan
Matjila, chief executive of PIC, told Reuters.
On Friday Aberdeen called the offer "welcome" but said that "AB
InBev need to rethink their numbers".
Still unclear is the ultimate position of Colombia's Santo Domingo
family, which owns 14 percent of the company following the sale of
their Grupo Bavaria business to SABMiller in 2005.
Their two board representatives who voted against last week's offer
are Alejandro Santo Domingo and Carlos Alejandro Perez Davila,
cousins who also run New York-based Quadrant Capital Advisors.
Yet Alejandro Santo Domingo, the Harvard-educated fixture of New
York high society, is according to media reports well-acquainted
with AB InBev's controlling shareholders, including Brazilian
billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann.
"We think the Colombians are very close to Lemann and that Lemann
knows exactly what price the Colombians want," said an SAB
shareholder with a less than 1 percent stake. "I can't understand
their tactics though."
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AB InBev Chief Executive Carlos Brito said last week that his
company's large shareholders had approached Altria and the Santo
Domingos and understood them to be "at least receptive to an
approach". He also said the structure of his alternative offer to
buy the 41 percent of the company they own for a mix of shares and
cash, was created "with and for" Altria and the Santo Domingos.
Santo Domingo could not immediately be reached by Reuters for
comment. He told the Financial Times last week that "at the moment
we have no comment".
The smaller SAB shareholder, who was not authorized to speak to the
press, said he could see merits in a merger and hoped discussions
would continue to find a price that was acceptable to Santo Domingo.
"It makes so much sense to put these two businesses together, but
they clearly have to negotiate and get the best price," the
shareholder said. And at the moment, they need to get the Colombians
on board."
($1 = 13.3080 rand)
(Editing by James Macharia and Greg Mahlich)
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