AB-InBev shareholders approve Goudet as next Chairman
“The world is a village and we are all connected.” This saying comes to mind on hearing that on 29 April 2015 AB-InBev’s shareholders approved Olivier Goudet, 51, as Chairman, bringing an end to the leadership of Kees Storm whose term on the board expired. Mr Goudet, a Frenchman who has been an AB-InBev independent board member since 2011, will serve for four years.
What got the grapevine buzzing is that since June 2012 Mr Goudet has been partner and CEO of JAB Holding, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann family from Germany, which is in the process of forming the world’s largest stand-alone coffee company by combining the coffee business of Mondelez International with D.E Master Blenders 1753.
As CEO of JAB Holding Mr Goudet allegedly pulled the strings in JAB’s 2013 takeover of D.E. Master Blenders. Previously, while serving as Chief Financial Officer of Mars, he played a role in the company’s USD 23 billion acquisition of gum maker Wrigley in 2008.
Commenting on Mr Goudet’s appointment, most media outfits said that he seems to be a seasoned deal-maker. However, very few commentators have noticed how close the links already are between AB-InBev’s Brazilian owners, JAB and SABMiller. Incidentally, JAB’s 2013 deal for D.E. Master Blenders involved Alexandre Van Damme, an AB-InBev board member with connections to one of AB-InBev’s Belgian founding families, and Alejandro Santo Domingo, a SABMiller board member, whose family owns a 14 percent stake in SABMiller.
These family connections have become so cosy that Bernstein Research analyst Trevor Stirling recently said: "It’s an interlinking world of oligarchs." Interesting that he should use the word “oligarchs”.
Because of these connections, an AB-InBev-SABMiller tie-up became the most talked-about fantasy deal last year. Now analysts think that it is not so likely any longer. Why? Blame it on 3G, the investment company by the Brazilian owners of AB-InBev, which a short while ago announced the roughly USD 46 billion takeover of Kraft Foods with U.S. investor Warren Buffett.
Mr Stirling and other analysts believe the Kraft deal makes a takeover by AB-InBev of SABMiller less likely in the near-term, given the overlap of management and resources between 3G and AB-InBev.
“It’s unlikely they would have sufficient bandwidth to manage the integration of both Heinz/Kraft and ABI/SAB,” Mr Stirling was quoted as saying.
We shall see.
