SABMiller’s share price development raises takeover concerns
Long time, no hear about anyone courting the world’s number two brewer SABMiller. Deal rumours died down after in September last year Heineken publically rebuffed an offer by SABMiller to combine.
With no heady offer in the offing, SABMiller’s share price has dropped 10 percent between January and the end of August, it was reported, taking SABMiller’s market capitalisation down to GBP 48.8 billion (USD 75 billion).
But it should rise a bit after it was leaked to the Sunday Times on 30 August 2015 that SABMiller has reportedly called on the services of boutique advisory firm Robey Warshaw to help build its defences against a possible GBP 75 billion (USD 115 billion) takeover offer from AB-InBev.
According to City sources, Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw have been providing advice to senior executives at the company on mergers and acquisition strategy. That SABMiller’s executives are in talks with outside advisors may not mean much at this stage, but it indicates at least that they are taking the threat seriously.
Mr Robey, a former Morgan Stanley banker, and Mr Warshaw, a former UBS dealmaker, set up Robey Warshaw in 2013. They have since worked on “defence” mandates for some of Britain’s biggest companies. Last year, for example, the pharmaceutical business Astra Zeneca hired the pair to help defend it against a GBP 70 billion hostile takeover bid from the American drug giant Pfizer. They were successful.
