Coke or Pepsi?
Susquehanna analyst Pablo Zunaic suggests either Coca-Cola Co. or PepsiCo's beverage unit will be next for AB InBev, according to a Seeking Alpha report, and he puts his money on Pepsi.
"True, overseas Coca-Cola is much larger than Pepsi, but that may be a moot point as the Coca-Cola overseas business is mainly in the hands of independent bottlers (so is PepsiCo’s except for Russia)," he wrote recently. "But we think Pepsi bottlers in markets like Mexico, China, India and Canada could be more reasonable acquisition targets for AB InBev down the road and would actually provide relevant scale-up benefits."
Coca-Cola Co.'s market value is about $188 billion, according to a Reuters report. Pepsi is significantly less. AB InBev is paying $104 billion to purchase SABMiller in an effort to "create a truly global brewer," according to CEO Carlos Brito, and as the Reuters' report says, "With no more room to grow in beer ... the mega brewer will eventually move into soft drinks."