Anheuser Busch Companies (BUD)

[FUNMAN]

Anheuser-Busch InBev Files Application for Hong Kong IPO of Its Asian Beer Business

https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/2019091110025/anheuser-busch-inbev-files-application-for-hong-kong-ipo-of-its-asian-beer-business

Provided by Dow Jones
Sep 11, 2019 9:22 PM EDT

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (ABI.BT) is planning to tap the Hong Kong market again to list its Asian beer business after calling off its nearly $10 billion initial public offering two months ago.

Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. which will be the listed entity on the Hong Kong bourse if the IPO is successful said Thursday that there is no assurance that the company will proceed with the offering.

The draft prospectus filed Thursday didn't detail the size of the offering or the timing of the IPO.

J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are advising the company on the IPO.

Budweiser Brewing, which sells beers such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona and Hoegaarden, had in July cited market conditions for calling off the Hong Kong IPO, which, if successful, would have been the year's biggest IPO.

People familiar with the IPO plans had said in July that several prospective investors found the deal expensive and valuations high.

Since calling off the deal, the parent AB InBev, the world's biggest brewer, has been looking to sell some of its assets. In July, the company agreed to sell its Australian unit to Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. for $11.3 billion.

AB InBev, which makes one out of every four beers sold world-wide, owns hundreds of brands in dozens of countries after a global buying spree that gave it Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona. But those deals saddled the Belgian brewer with about $100 billion in debt; meanwhile, beer sales have slowed in the U.S. and other major markets.