Altria Group Inc. on Wednesday said it is planning to sell 35 million ordinary shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) stock in a public offering.
As the parent company of tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA, Altria currently holds a stake of approximately 197 million shares of ABI, which is a stake of about 10% of the company.
“Over the decades of our ownership, the beer investment has provided significant income and cash returns and supported our strong balance sheet,” Altria’s CEO Billy Gifford said in a statement. “Our continued investment reflects ongoing confidence in ABI’s long-term strategies, premium global brands and experienced management team.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev is a Belgium-based company that owns several global brands including Budweiser, Michelob and Stella Artois.
“These opportunistic capital allocation decisions reflect our ongoing confidence in Altria’s future and the significant value offered in our shares today,” Gifford said. “We have a longstanding history of returning cash to our shareholders, and today’s announcement reflects our continued desire to create long-term shareholder value.”
Anheuser-Busch agreed to buy back $200 million worth of ordinary shares directly from Altria, conditional on the completion of the offering. The aggregate amount of the offering and repurchase by ABI is approximately $2.4 billion.
Altria has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 5.25 million additional ABI shares owned by Altria at the price per American depositary share (ADS) paid by the underwriters in the offering, exercisable within the next 30 days.
Altria also said the company expects to maintain two seats on ABI’s board of directors through ABI’s 2025 annual general meeting.
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