Maybe I’ve missed it, but I have been waiting for CNN pundit Lou Dobbs to weigh in on the foreign invasion of an American icon – Budweiser beer.
After finding its initial $65 a share bid for Anheuser-Busch Companies rebuffed, InBev SA, the Belgian-Brazilian brewer of such tipples as Stella Artois and LaBatt Blue, has taken the neutron bomb approach. They announced Monday they were seeking the ouster of A-B’s entire board so they can replace it with a group of business experts and Adolphus Busch IV, uncle of A-B CEO August Busch IV.
The play may lengthen the time for the now-hostile takeover, but it still could happen. CEO August Busch has urged shareholders to dis the $46.35 billion offer, saying it undervalues the company.
InBev wants A-B so it can gain a major footprint in the U.S. while it pushes beer in faster-growing markets such as China and Russia.
Since Bud is as American as mom, apple pie and Chevrolet, some have taken a nativist stance against the takeover. The governor of Missouri, where A-B is based, is dead set against foreign ownership of arguably his state’s best-known corporation.
Too bad this is not France, writes Steven M. Davidoff, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, in a New York Times blog. If it were, A-B would be like French firm Danone, which could be designated a “national champion” preserved from foreign takeover.
That should be music to the ears of Nativist-in-Chief Lou Dobbs, who has spoken out against a British hedge fund gaining seats on U.S. railroad CSX. But I have not seen much comment from Dobbs on this one. Have you? And what’s your view?
