Bud vs. Stella

InBev's takeover bid for Anheuser-Busch yesterday ($65 a share) looks set to be a "bruising battle" according to David Faber from CNBC.  No kidding.  The St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a story today with the headline "Kingdom Under Seige" and the New York Times quoted Governor Blunt of Missouri who said "today's offer to purchase the company is deeply troubling to me".  InBev are saying all the right things about recognizing the importance of Anheuser's commitment to the St.Louis community and pledging to keep all Budweiser's plants in operation around the country, but they could give puppies to all the kids in St. Louis and this would still be a hostile takeover because they're a European company run by Brazilians.  Nothing against Europeans or Brazilians, but they aren't American. 

Of course, this isn't anything to do with shareholders, boards of directors, bottling or brewing, this is about a brand…and specifically an iconic American brand, which is ingrained in the psyche of the entire nation (beer drinkers or not).   InBev might as well have said they wanted to throw the White House into the deal too. That's the reason why David Faber goes on to say "this will get nasty pretty quickly".  The only equivalent I could think of would be Honda's rumored takeover of Harley this time last year, which was met with a quote from an investment analyst at RBC "Harley is an iconic, American brand. I don't think it would be a great fit if they were under the ownership of a larger Japanese corporation." That deal ultimately couldn't happen for regulatory reasons, but I'd bet my house the Harley owners clubs wouldn't have been happy.  It reminds me of the great quote from John Stuart, former CEO of Quaker: "If this business were split up, I would give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take the brands and trademarks, and I would fare better than you."