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Heineken Says ‘No Deal’ on SABMiller Takeover

Sep 14, 2014 10:43 PM EDT | By Eunice Tagalog

Heineken was reportedly approached by competitor and Heinekein shareholder SABMiller to purchase the company. The offer proposed that Heineken can still operate independently.

Heineken, the maker of Amstel, Newcastle Brown Ale and Birra Morreti, rejected the offer and put the lid on the topic, stating the proposal was "non-actionable."

The Beer brewing giant released a statement Sunday regarding the issue.

"The Heineken family has informed SABMiller, Heineken and Heineken Holding of its intention to preserve the heritage and identity of Heineken as an independent company. The family and Heineken management are confident that the company will continue to deliver growth and shareholder value."

In fact, the beer company's shares reportedly went up 21 percent this year following a release of a line of premium beer brands.

The founding family of Heineken, the De-Carvalho family, owns over 50 percent of the company via Heineken Holding while SABMiller has majority of the shares.

The proposal followed a rumor that larger competitor Anheuser-Busch InBev., the world's largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona, has offered a merger with SABMiller.

The SABMiller-AB InBev merger was reportedly part of AB Inbev's plan to address its slow growth and to increase its beer producing capacity, as well as to gain a market in Africa where SABMiller has a foothold already.

SABMiller similarly refused the offer from AB InBev and allegedly planned to merge with Heineken to do so.

Bloomberg reported that SABMiller's offer would have potentially made the Heineken own the largest shares in the partnership.

Meanwhile, SABMiller successfully merged with other beer producers including a small South African player to the world's no. 2 brewery.

The company also purchased Colombia's Bavaria and Golsch in 2005 and 2007 respectively. In 2011, SABMiller merged with the Molson Coors and Foster's Group.

Heineken, SABMilller and AB InBev are the world's top four beer brewers producing 49 percent of worldwide beer sales.

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