Justice Department OKs sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department approved a $52 billion beer buzz Friday, allowing Belgium-based InBev SA to buy out Anheuser-Busch and create the world’s largest brewer.

But InBev’s buzz comes with a slight hiccup: It must sell subsidiary Labatt USA to win regulatory approval.

Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light have less than 1 percent share of the U.S. market, but in upstate New York, they go head-to-head with Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.’s Budweiser and Bud Light, and MillerCoors LLC brands such as Coors Light and Miller Lite.

Without the sell-off condition, the Justice Department said beer prices would increase in metropolitan Buffalo, Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y., because of lessened competition.

“This divestiture will ensure that consumers will continue to benefit from the significant competition between the merging companies in upstate New York,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Deborah A. Garza said in a statement.

InBev and Anheuser-Busch don’t compete in most other beer markets around the country, where Anheuser-Busch is the dominant player with a 50 percent share.

InBev, brewer of Stella Artois, Beck’s and L ∂wenbr §u, has less than 2 percent of the U.S. market, regulators said.

The Justice Department’s blessing to the takeover comes just two days after Anheuser-Busch shareholders approved the sale.

The deal, reached in July, is still subject to regulatory approval in Britain and China. InBev shareholders backed the deal in September.