The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, said Tuesday it will buy back a minority interest in its U.S. beer-can manufacturing plants, reclaiming a 49.9% stake from a consortium led by asset manager Apollo in a deal valued at about $3 billion.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV — the maker of Budweiser, Corona and hundreds of other brands — said it is exercising a contractual right to repurchase the stake it sold in December 2020. That earlier transaction, also priced at $3 billion, granted AB InBev the option to buy back the holding on the fifth anniversary of the deal’s closing at a price agreed at the time.
A Deal Years in the Making
The brewer said the transaction is expected to close by March, subject to customary closing conditions. Counsel information for the companies was not immediately available, and Apollo Global Management Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.
AB InBev produces more than 600 beer brands across 150 countries, and said the U.S.-based metal container operations include seven facilities spread across six states.
