Inbev, the maker of Becks and Stella Artois, has drawn up plans for an audacious $46bn (£23bn) take-over offer for US rival and Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch.
If the brewer proceeds with its plans, the long-awaited deal would create a near-$100bn company to overshadow the global brewing market's number two player SABMiller, worth closer to £37bn.
Anheuser shares rose 3.59 to $56.17 after the FT Alphaville website revealed that Inbev had appointed investment bank Lazard to map out a $65-a-share offer. Inbev shares fell 1.44 to 48.88 (£38.92).
The Belgian-Brazilian brewer, already the world's biggest, is understood to have secured a $50bn funding package from JP Morgan and Santander. JP Morgan is thought to have held a credit committee meeting on Wednesday to approve the loan. An Inbev board meeting followed on Thursday.
One rival brewing executive said: "Anheuser is bereft of a growth strategy and is flailing around in its domestic market, apparently not knowing what to do. In short, it looks lame. On the other side, Inbev is seen as an acquisitive and aggressive company set on world domination."
Anheuser is believed to have considered a bid for Scottish & Newcastle earlier this year with suggestions that the brewer appointed Goldman Sachs to study a potential offer. It remains unclear whether the Budweiser brewer has appointed advisers to deal with any approach.
Inbev is understood to be some way from making a formal offer but is thought to have been studying a takeover since last year.
Acquiring Anheuser would give Inbev a number one position in the US beer market as well as a 50pc stake in Modelo, a leading Mexican beer company, and a 29pc holding in Tsingtao, China's biggest brewer.
Analysts believe Inbev's management, which rapaciously cut costs after the Interbrew-Ambev merger that formed the company, would look to take a similarly aggressive approach following an Anheuser acquisition. Inbev is thought to regard ownership of Anheuser's huge US business as a perfect foil to its reliance on emerging markets.
I try to get along with the people in my neighborhood, but sometimes it can be difficult. Take for example my neighbor "Mahmoud." Last weekend while I was seeding my lawn, he drove back and forth slowly in front of my house "flipping the bird" from his minivan, which is painted with pictures of bloody corpses and mushroom clouds and "welcome 12th Imam." Normally I wouldn't have given it a second thought (I get "fingered" by a lot of the neighbors), but lately I've noticed he has been working on some kind of secret project in his garage with really stinky chemicals. Also, I've been getting these constant annoying 3 AM phone calls threatening to kill my kids.
Frankly, I'm sort of worried about the situation, but even the neighbors I get along with tell me I shouldn't jump to conclusions, and not to make a big deal of it. I don't want to make waves, but I also don't want to end up like the Goldbergs who had their house burned down last week. Am I being too much of a "worry wart"? Please help!
Concerned in Northbrook
Dear Concerned:
Misunderstanding and mistrust is a two-way street, and it's important to ask yourself: what did I do to create this situation? Without thinking, sometimes the things we do can understandably trigger homicidal rage in our friends and neighbors. Put the shoe on the other foot -- how would you like it if you had a neighbor who was always showing you up with his big gas-guzzling SUV and manicured hedges?
Before things escalate further, you should take the initiative and invite Mahmoud over for coffee and chit chat. No preconditions, and maybe you could bring a pie from Bakers Square. While he is enjoying a delicious slice of Boston Cream, let Mahmoud know that you understand his feelings, and you will do whatever it takes to repair your tattered reputation in the neighborhood. As a show of good faith, why not offer him a few bags of fertilizer and fuel for his lawn mower?
A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings. Are you naive enough to think the city government is meeting this odd request with derision and pointed laughter? Read on.
Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. And he's allergic to work and logic too, by the way.
"I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said. You really need to take a physics class. And some Prozac. If you fear Prozac, you might see if the "Tried & True" grounded tinfoil hat does the trick.
Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. So if I'm retarded too, does that mean I can ask for crazy $hit?
The city attorney is now asking Firstenberg how high to jump checking to see if putting up Wi-Fi could be considered discrimination. A foolish city and its money are soon parted. Phobias do not count as a disability.
But City Councilor Ron Trujillo says the areas are already saturated with wireless Internet. Ah, the only sane voice in the story so far.
"It's not 1692, it's 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it's not going away," Trujillo said. And neither are the idiots. In the ranks of both the citizens and the government.
The city attorney hopes to have a legal recommendation by the end of the month. As soon as the humor wears off and he can keep a straight face in front of the judge. Of course, it will require his full focus until then.
I wonder what Saddam would have done with this request.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned women not to use or purchase Mommy's Bliss Nipple Cream, marketed by MOM Enterprises Inc. of San Rafael, California. The cream, promoted to nursing mothers to help soothe dry or cracked nipples, contains ingredients that may cause respiratory distress, vomiting and diarrhea in infants, the agency said.
The potentially harmful ingredients in the cream are chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol. Mmm. Sounds like the kind of chemicals that babies should be ingesting. No?
"FDA is particularly concerned that nursing infants are being unwittingly exposed by their mothers to this product with dangerous side effects," said Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Additionally, these two ingredients may interact with one another to further compound and increase the risk of respiratory depression in nursing infants."
The company has stopped selling the cream. The FDA said consumers should stop using the cream and consult a doctor if they experience problems or believe that their infant may have experienced problems due to the product. Given the harsh sounding names of the chemicals mentioned above, it may be wise to discontinue using it altogether.
Mothers whose children may have suffered adverse effects because of this product should contact the FDA's MedWatch at 800-332-1088. A friend of mine has these symptoms and he wants to know if he really has to be a baby to call Medwatch . . . .
The Australian defence force has apologised to a Bollywood actress for airing rumours she had sex with troops while touring a military base in Afghanistan.
London-based Australian star Tania Zaetta is considering suing the defence department over the scandal, which centres on a morale-boosting tour she made to Australian military bases in Afghanistan last month. The defence department apologised to Zaetta late Thursday, expressing regret that a ministerial briefing note, known as a hot issues paper, detailing the rumours had named her and become public.
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05/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Aisha Ibrahim was involved in an auto-accident in Port Harcourt, but her case particularly attracted the media attention because an unusual occurrence was attributed to her. Eyewitnesses said she was hit by a car as a cat, but later transformed into a woman. BOLAJI OGUNDELE narrates the story.
The Conservatives took Crewe by a landslide on Friday, registering their first by-election gain over Labour for 30 years and hoisting a big question mark over the future of Gordon Brown.
Several analysts believe that with few new policy options open to him and the economy unlikely to improve quickly, Brown could face a leadership challenge by the Autumn.
Conservative candidate Edward Timpson won by 7,860 votes, overturning Labour's 7,000 majority with a 17.6 percent swing -- easily enough to secure a Tory victory if it were replicated in a general election. "It was the end of New Labour here on the streets of Crewe," said the triumphant Conservative leader David Cameron.
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05/24/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings 
The Australian defence force has apologised to a Bollywood actress for airing rumours she had sex with troops while touring a military base in Afghanistan.
Aisha Ibrahim was involved in an auto-accident in Port Harcourt, but her case particularly attracted the media attention because an unusual occurrence was attributed to her. Eyewitnesses said she was hit by a car as a cat, but later transformed into a woman. BOLAJI OGUNDELE narrates the story.
