US: Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US$100b purchase completed

According to a report by BrewBound, a federal judge  has signed a “Modified Final Judgment” that officially clears Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US$100 billion purchase of rival SABMiller more than two years after the Department of Justice (DOJ) initially green-lit the acquisition.

US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on Monday, October 22, ruled that A-B InBev complied with requirements of the Antitrust Procedures and Penalties Act and he approved a number of new conditions that he said are “in the public interest.”

The four new provisions to the consent decree are “designed to improve the Proposed Final Judgment’s enforceability,” according to a DOJ order issued Monday in conjunction with the Final Judgment.

In addition to a previously agreed upon stipulation that required A-B InBev to divest itself of the MillerCoors business in the US, and conditions that limit the company’s power over independent beer wholesalers, the DOJ has included new language that will make it easier for the government to pursue legal action against the global beer giant if the company is believed to be in violation of the consent decree.

Full Content: Brewbound