Stockholm, Sweden -- Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, the two biggest beer producers in the world, have agreed on terms for a gigantic deal to merge both companies. The merger is set to create a beer behemoth responsible for one in three beers sold worldwide.
The final AB InBev offer is worth more than $110 billion. Key actor in the deal making and major profiteer is the tobacco industry giant Altria, which is SABMiller’s biggest shareholder, owning a 27% stake. Altria, the manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes and formerly known as Philip Morris Companies, is predicted to receive seats on the board of directors of the new beer behemoth.
The Financial Times reports that if completed, the deal — including debt — would be the third largest M&A transaction in history, overtaking AOL’s purchase of Time Warner in 2000.
This deal has to be viewed as a major threat to global health and sustainable development
 
The merger marks another aggressive step by Big Alcohol to target emerging markets in Africa and Asia.

"The troika of two Big Alcohol giants plus the Big Tobacco giant Altria spells trouble for people in developing countries and for the newly adopted Agenda2030,” cautions Kristina Sperkova, President of IOGT International, the premier global network for evidence-based policy measures and community-based interventions to prevent and reduce alcohol harm.

"The track record of Big Tobacco is well documented and well know. And AB InBev and SABMiller have each similarly scary track records of unethical practices putting profit over Human Rights,” says Ms. Sperkova.
 
Alcohol kills 3.3 million people worldwide, every year.
For full IOGT article go to http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=208eb41381d07b9517fc37d74&id=ce2beb965e&e=831ec98e91