Anheuser-Busch Faces Shareholder Lawsuits

Some Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc shareholders have filed lawsuits seeking to force the U.S. brewer to fairly consider the $46.3 billion takeover bid from InBev NV, according to court documents obtained by Reuters.

Anheuser-Busch
rejected InBev's unsolicited bid on Friday and outlined plans to cut
$1 billion in costs and improve earnings in a move to convince
investors that InBev's overture was too low.

In a case filed on June 27 in the Court
of Chancery of the State of Delaware, the shareholders said
Anheuser-Busch's board of directors breached its fiduciary
responsibility by failing to properly consider and respond to InBev's
offer.

The lawsuit asked the court to prevent
Anheuser-Busch "directors from entrenching themselves and
causing the company to take unreasonable and disproportionate
defensive measures."

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action
status, also requests court intervention to prevent Anheuser-Busch
from trying to hold negotiations to acquire the half of Mexican
brewer Grupo Modelo it does not already own.

Anheuser-Busch, which owns 50.2 percent
of Corona-brewer Modelo, has held recent discussions with the Mexican
company, sources told Reuters last week. If Anheuser-Busch acquired
Grupo Modelo, the combined company would be too large for InBev to
acquire, analysts have said.