Analysts thought that a merger of two largest beer producers should be timely in a saturated market. The consolidation of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller was expected to be valued at USD100 billion. This was said because control of the other two companies, Heineken and Carlsberg, would be hardly obtained or reached by a outsider. Heineken is controlled by a Dutch family, while control of Carlsberg is under a trust.
Societe Generale beverage analyst Andrew Holland said, "If you do a deal, say, with ThaiBev, it's not going to move the needle. If you do it with SAB it would give them another leg up." ThaiBev is one of the largest beverage companies in Southeast Asia.
Talks of a possible merger between AB InBev and SABMiller started way earlier. Speculation initially died down due to AB InBev's USD20.1 billion acquisition of Grupo Modelo, a Mexican brewery.
Industry experts thought that since AB InBev would be returning to a pre-deal debt-to-EBITDA ratio of under two in 2014, both breweries would be open to a consolidation. Some of the experts thought that a merger would be reached within a year.
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