UPDATE 2-InBev tells Anheuser-Busch time 'of the essence'
(Recasts; adds background, comments from Warren Buffett)
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - InBev NV INTB.BR lightly prodded its takeover target Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (BUD.N) on Wednesday, reminding the U.S. brewer that despite no formal deadline, time was still "of the essence."
It has been two weeks since the Belgian-Brazilian brewer launched its unsolicited $46.3 billion takeover bid, but the maker of Budweiser and Michelob has yet to respond.
In his third letter to Anheuser Chief Executive August Busch IV, InBev CEO Carlos Brito said his company remains available to discuss its $65-per-share offer, but "time is of the essence."
Brito also said InBev has received commitment letters for the financing for the deal and has paid $50 million in commitment fees to a 10-bank lending group including Banco Santander, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Fortis, ING Bank, JP Morgan, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.
When InBev launched its $65-per-share bid on June 11, it said it had "strong support" from a group of eight banks that did not include Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi or Mizuho Corporate Bank. It did not explain the addition of the two Japanese banks.
InBev's offer did not include any formal deadline within which Anheuser must respond. Yet analysts have said that if Anheuser puts off negotiations for too long, InBev may just take its offer directly to shareholders in a hostile bid.
That could be bad for Anheuser, analysts have said, since InBev's bid would give shareholders a significant premium Anheuser would have trouble matching on its own.
The $65-a-share offer, which tops Anheuser's all-time high, is 24 percent higher than the stock's closing price the day before reports of merger talks surfaced, and 35 percent higher than the average share price over the preceding month.
Anheuser has said it will respond to InBev "in due course."
In the meantime, many eyes have been on Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) Chief Executive Warren Buffett, the legendary billionaire investor and Anheuser's second-largest shareholder, to see what he thinks of the bid.
Buffett told Reuters on Wednesday that contrary to media reports that he supports the bid, he has not met with either side's management and has not thrown his support either way.
"The interesting thing is that I have not commented on that, although people have run stories on what I have done," Buffett said in an interview. "Maybe they're confusing me with (singer) Jimmy Buffett." (Reporting by Martinne Geller, editing by John Wallace and Maureen Bavdek)
