AB InBev Reignites Plans to List Budweiser APAC After Two Month Hiatus
Zhang Yushuo
DATE:  Sep 12 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
AB InBev Reignites Plans to List Budweiser APAC After Two Month Hiatus AB InBev Reignites Plans to List Budweiser APAC After Two Month Hiatus

(Yicai Global) Sept. 12 -- Beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev has restarted its plans to list Budweiser Brewing APAC in Hong Kong two months after delaying the initial public offering, according to a stock exchange filing.

J.P. Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley will sponsor the listing, AB InBev said in the filing today, adding that the decision was based on market conditions and other factors. The offering does not include Budweiser's Australia business, which InBev sold to Asahi Breweries for USD11.3 billion in July.

Budweiser Brewing APAC was planning to issue 1.6 billion shares in Hong Kong and raise up to HKD76.4 billion (USD8.9 billion), it said in early July, adding that it would use the proceeds to repay loans payable to its parent's subsidiaries and to complete its reorganization.

The deal would have been the biggest listing in Hong Kong so far this year, but the company pulled the plug nine days later after underwriters proved unwilling to pay the asking price of between HKD40 (USD5.1) and HKD47, an anonymous inside source told Securities Times that month. AB InBev had been pushing for the upper end of the bracket, he added.

The price range would have given the unit a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.5 to 45 based on Budweiser APAC's USD1.4 billion profit in 2018.

The Hong Kong-headquartered subsidiary mainly targets China, India, South Korea and Vietnam. AB InBev had 62 breweries in the Asia-Pacific region as of late March, with 35 in China and its largest in the world is in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

Editor: James Boynton

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Keywords:   InBev,IPO,Budweiser Brewing APAC