Friendly InBev, Anheuser deal seen soon: sources

By Martinne Geller and Jessica Hall

NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - InBev NV INTB.BR sweetened its takeover offer for rival Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (BUD.N) to $50 billion, finally luring the U.S. brewer into talks over a friendly deal, sources familiar with the situation said.

After a month of mounting tensions, Belgian-Brazilian InBev has offered $70 per share for the maker of Budweiser, up from the $65 per share, or $46.3 billion, it proposed a month ago, sources said. They added that Anheuser's board could accept the new bid as soon as this weekend.

Yet they cautioned that the ultimate timing and price of any potential deal may change since negotiations could break down at any time.

Shares of both brewers jumped more than 7 percent on Friday.

The new offer reflects a premium of 33 percent over Anheuser's closing price on May 22, the day before media reports of takeover talks surfaced.

As it sweetened its offer, InBev, which brews Stella Artois and Beck's, also moved to quash concerns over its financing by launching a $45 billion syndicated loan backing the proposed takeover, banking sources told Reuters LPC on Friday.

The sources said the loan's pricing and fees were among the highest seen on an investment-grade acquisition loan, making this a "must-do deal" for banks, which have been hurt as credit market turmoil has stymied the flow of deals.

The two brewers had grown increasingly contentious since Anheuser rejected the initial bid two weeks ago, with InBev seeking to replace Anheuser's board and Anheuser suing InBev for making "false and misleading statements."

Helping to push the two sides to the negotiating table are signs that some big investors in Anheuser, including second-largest shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), were leaning toward backing a deal with InBev, according to a report in The New York Times.

Analysts have said a seal of approval from billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway, would probably influence other shareholders.

Berkshire, which owns a 5 percent stake in the brewer, did not return a call seeking comment but Buffett told Reuters on June 25 that he had yet to take a position on InBev's offer.

Some shareholders, including Adolphus A. Busch IV, an uncle of Chief Executive August A. Busch IV, said they supported a takeover, even at $65 a share.

Since InBev had a good chance of succeeding if it went directly to shareholders in a tender offer, Morningstar analyst Ann Gilpin said a takeover seemed inevitable.

"Either it was going to be hostile at $65 or friendly at a higher price," she said.

And a friendly deal would behoove both sides, said Tom Pirko, president of beverage industry consulting firm Bevmark.