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SABMiller (L:SAB) has asked employees to pause the process of integrating its operations with those of Anheuser-Busch InBev (BR:ABI) as the brewer's board weighs its sweetened takeover offer, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The pause in operations is not an indication of the board's thinking, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is private.
Still, AB InBev's U.S.-listed shares fell nearly 4 percent and shares of Molson Coors(N:TAP), which is set to take over SAB's U.S. operations, fell nearly 7 percent in New York.
The world's top brewers agreed to merge late last year and for months have been engaged in back-office preparations, the sources said, aimed at smoothing the merger that was expected to start in the second half of the year when the deal was due to close.
The deal, however, has hit the rocks in recent weeks amid investor dissent over an offer made less attractive by a sharp fall in the pound following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
In an effort to calm a stream of investor complaints about a perceived lack of fairness in the structure of the deal, AB InBev sweetened its offer on Tuesday.
SAB is currently meeting with shareholders to discuss the new offer before its board formally considers it.
SAB and AB InBev declined to comment on the pause in the integration, which was reported earlier on Wednesday by trade publication Beer Business Daily.
Denver-based Molson Coors, which on Monday announced leadership changes to take effect once it takes over the MillerCoors joint venture it has with SABMiller in the United States, declined to say whether it had paused integration too.
Source Reuters
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