Happy Anheuser-Busch InBev

InBev NV agreed to buy Anheuser- Busch Cos. in a $52 billion transaction that will make the Belgian company the top brewer.

The $70-a-share purchase announced
today will give Leuven, Belgium-based InBev the biggest share in
China, the U.S., Russia, Brazil and Germany, making it the world's
largest brewer with the size to negotiate lower prices on everything
from hops to electricity. InBev gains Anheuser's half share of the
U.S. market, the industry's largest, as well as top-selling Bud Light
and Budweiser.

The combined company will exceed $36
billion in annual revenue, 85 percent more than InBev's 2007 sales.
The transaction follows SABMiller Plc's agreement to combine its U.S.
businesses with Molson Coors Brewing Co. as U.S. industry sales
approach $100 billion, according to Euromonitor Plc.

InBev Chief Executive Officer Carlos
Brito will become the combined company's CEO, and Anheuser-Busch CEO
August A. Busch IV and another current or former director of the U.S.
company will join the board.

The agreement ends a month of court
fights and public quarreling as InBev tried to acquire the U.S.
beermaker in a hostile takeover. InBev lifted its initial offer by
7.7 percent and agreed to rename itself Anheuser-Busch InBev, the
brewers said today.