UK Edition
AB InBev scraps largest IPO of 2019 after weak investor demand
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer with more than 50 beer brands under its belt, has scrapped plans to spin off its Asian arm which was set to be the largest initial public offering of the year.
The listing of its minority stake in Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC was meant to help the company reduce its unwieldy $100bn (£79.5m) debt pile, a legacy of its mega-merger with SABMiller in 2016. But it did not secure enough demand from long-term investors.
In a statement on Friday AB InBev, the US brewing giant behind Budweiser, Corona and Stell Artois, said it was “not proceeding with this transaction” at this time, due to “several factors, including the prevailing market conditions”.
The company added that it would “closely monitor market conditions” while it evaluates its options.
Earlier this week AB InBev, said its Hong Kong listing would be priced in the lower half of a previously guided range. Previously it said shares would be sold at between $5.12 to $6.01 a share, implying a total deal size of $8.3bn to $9.8bn, ahead of Uber’s $8.1bn market debut.
The news comes just days after the world’s second-largest insurer SwissRe decided to pull a £3bn flotation of its UK subsidiary, RaAssure, in London.
The company blamed weak demand from large institutional investors who were said to be especially nervous about continued political uncertainty in the UK.
Shares were due to be priced between 280p to 330p, valuing it between £2.8bn and £3.3bn.
ReAssure is majority owned by SwissRe and Japanese insurance group MS&AD Insurance, and is the sixth-largest life insurance group in Britain, with additional operations in Ireland.
It focuses only on the acquisition and management of closed book life insurance policies, which are no longer sold but remain on the books of a life insurance provider as premium-paying policies.