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There goes the King

"Now, a company that once boasted of supremacy and survival in the U.S. beer market must tell another tale to its staunch supporters: the loss of its independence."

The big news of the day in St. Louis: Iconic brewer Anheuser-Busch welcomes its new Belgian overlords. Approval by shareholders and antitrust regulators is pending, but the deal certainly appears to be done.The resolution of the month-long stand-off between A-B and InBev came quickly on the heels of A-B’s decision to finally enter into talks with its relentless suitor, and if the conclusion seems to have been inevitable…well, that’s because it was.

The buyout agreement is the above-the-fold story at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with an assortment of features on various aspects of the development. The general mood in the “Talk of the Day” thread on the buyout is best described as gray, with commenters sad over the end of an era, worried over job losses through all-but-certain cost-cutting measures, and depressed over the cementing of St. Louis’ status as a back-office town. Commenter JD (at 12:22 am, July 14) provides a brief rundown of locally-based companies “either closed or acquired over the past 15 years”:

PET
Purina
AG Edwards
Edison Brothers
TWA
Furniture Brands
May Company
Allegiant Bank
Boatman’s Bank
Mercantile Bank

and now AB…

P-D reporter Angela Tablac describes the challenge that Anheuser-Busch now faces in framing its own narrative:

Now, a company that once boasted of supremacy and survival in the U.S. beer market — for example, making it through Prohibition when most brewers failed — must tell another tale to its staunch supporters: the loss of its independence.

At the St. Louis Beacon, Robert Steyer runs down the likely winners and losers of the takeover.

Winners:
A-B shareholders
InBev
competitor Molson Coors (in the short term, at least)
lawyers and investment bankers, naturally

Losers:
Bondholders
Missouri politicians

Too early to call:
A-B workers
Various non-beer holdings of A-B (such as the several theme parks)
InBev shareholders
Mexican beer companies (such as Grupo Modelo and Fomento Economico Mexicano)

More news nationally on the $52 billion takeover bid and birth of Anheuser-Busch InBev at CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Whether you believe that the A-B buyout heralds a “global expansion” of Budweiser and its sister products - and that InBev will keep its promises to the local community regarding the presence of Anheuser-Busch as a corporate citizen - or that this move will ultimately swell the numbers of the unemployed here and solidify St. Louis’ place as the new Scranton, it’s appropriate to raise a glass (of whatever) today in memory of the A-B that was.

Note: Some strange background to the A-B/InBev story, provided by Bitty in comments: It looks like Anheuser-Busch is now owned by a company based in a nation whose government has just collapsed.

Belgium government collapses, King holds talks

Belgium’s government collapsed Tuesday, unable to resolve an enduring divide over more self-rule for the country’s Dutch and French-speakers. The gap was so wide the premier suggested the end of Belgium as a country was looming.

King Albert II immediately began political discussions with lawmakers to try to resolve the situation, talks expected to take several days. He did not formally accept the resignation of government offered by Premier Yves Leterme late Monday, so Leterme’s government stays on in a caretaker capacity for now.

In an unusual declaration, the premier said Belgium’s constitutional crisis stems from the fact that “consensus politics” across Belgium’s widening linguistic divide no longer works.

“The federal consensus-model has reached its limits,” Leterme said.

Leterme failed to get his cabinet - an unwieldy alliance of Christian Democrats, Liberals, Socialists and nationalist hard-liners from both language camps that took office March 20 - to agree on a future together by devolving more federal powers to the Dutch-speaking Flanders and Francophone Wallonia.

A constitutional crisis, cultural clashes, calls for self-rule - and the possible end of a country as we have known it. Bud drinkers of St. Louis, your new Belgian overlords!

Similar posts:
The return of the King?
Bowing to the inevitable?
As long as they’re in a buying mood
“SaveAB.com”
The gloves come off

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