• by Karl Greenberg , July 15, 2008

It's a done deal. After haggling over price, InBev has Bud in hand for $52 billion. While Anheuser-Busch will be a division of the new Anheuser-Busch InBev, the deal keeps the Clydesdales in St. Louis, which becomes the headquarters for A-B InBev's North American region.

Carlos Brito, CEO of the Leuven, Belgium-based InBev, who becomes CEO of the new company as well (while August Busch IV, CEO and president of A-B will become a member of the A-B InBev board) said he has no plans to shutter any of the 12 breweries in the U.S.

"It makes a lot of sense because it brings the best of both companies into one company," said Brito. "We are very committed to St. Louis; we aren't closing any of the breweries [in the U.S.]."

He said the corporate brand strategy would be to develop both local and global brands, of which Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck's will be the latter. All told InBev has around 60 beer brands under its aegis, most local-country and regional beers like Labatt, Brahmin and Bass.

"Our brand portfolio strategy is based on what we call our 'local jewels'--local beers that are very strong in their own countries, with Budweiser giving us a platform to develop a global brand," said Brito.

He said he doesn't see Budweiser competing globally with InBev's own multinational brands like Beck's and Stella. "They have different positions in consumers' minds," he says. "This portfolio will enable consumers to stay within our franchise while looking for different experiences, that's the beauty of this ... it's about complementary, not about overlapping."

Benjamin Stein, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights, agrees there won't be much conflict between brands. "There's a lot of difference from the standpoint of price and image between Bud Light versus Stella and Beck's and Bass." He says Budweiser and Bud Light are already the biggest brand globally by far. "InBev sees that a critical part of the deal is extending the Bud family's incredibly strong market position in the U.S. to other countries.

Anheuser-Busch has distributed InBev's Stella Artois, Beck's and Bass, and the company says Bud, Stella Artois, and Beck's will be the lead brands worldwide in the combined portfolio. Anheuser-Busch's sales and distribution system will these brands in the U.S. market.

Anheuser-Busch also has a stake in Mexico's Grupo Modelo, which owns Corona Extra, the number five brand globally; and China's Tsingtao, the leading Chinese premium brewer. InBev expects the U.S. market to generate 40% of total revenues.