Takeover rumour mill goes into overdrive: it’s now AB-InBev and Heineken

In our recent report “Beer is special still – The anatomy of the AB-InBev-SABMiller takeover rumour” (BRAUWELT International August 2014) we highlight the power wielded by the new and truly global alliance of analysts and business media in bringing a deal about.

While members of the brewing industry may still be catching up on the implications of this rumour, the Belgian newspaper De Tijd on 12 August 2014 added new grit to the mill by publishing a piece which says that “Analysts already speculate happily on AB-InBev’s next takeover target: Heineken.”

Of course, if you read enough deal scenarios you can easily make a case for this combination too. But this does not alter the fact that all we’ve got at this stage is hot air. No AB-InBev or Heineken insiders have gone on record to confirm this rumour.

Ultimately, it only confirms our suspicion that some editors must have decided that this rumour was too good to let pass in the silly season for beer which is getting longer and longer each year.