Brewing firms Interbrew of Belgium and AmBev of Brazil plan to announce an alliance today that would put them in a position to challenge Anheuser-Busch as the world's number one beer producer, a top AmBev executive said last night.
Speaking to reporters in the capital of Brasilia after discussing the agreement with the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, AmBev co-chairman Victorio de Marchi confirmed that the companies were poised to announce terms of the deal.
AmBev, the world's fifth-largest brewer, did not use the term "merger" in an earlier statement, saying only that it was "negotiating a possible worldwide transaction with Interbrew".
Both Interbrew and AmBev said the transaction could lead to a stock swap that would give Interbrew an unspecified stake in AmBev, which would remain a separately listed company.
Analysts said a deal would be worth billions of dollars and might spark a bidding war for AmBev.
