InBev makes $46.3 billion offer to buy Anheuser-Busch

NEW YORK When Molson Coors Brewing and SABMiller announced plans to merge U.S. operations under the name MillerCoors, analysts expected pressure on Anheuser-Busch to enter a similar partnership with InBev.

Instead, InBev wants to buy Anheuser-Busch.

InBev announced Wednesday that it would pay $46.3 billion to buy the second largest brewing company in the world and the largest in the U.S., at $65 per share. The acquisition would push the company to No. 1 worldwide.

The board of directors at the St. Louis-based maker of Budweiser and Michelob beers said that it would carefully evaluate the proposal.

Based in Leuven, Belgium, InBev, which was formed through a merger of Belgium’s Interbrew and Brazil’s AmBev, makes Stella Artois and Beck’s beers. Its roots date back to 1366, when Leuven’s Den Horen brewing enterprise began making beer.