South Africa's Competition Tribunal approved today the blockbuster buyout of SABMiller by the world's top brewer AB InBev, subject to conditions, paving the way towards completion of the huge deal.
Conditions include the sale of SABMiller's stake in Distell Group, as South Africa's regulator moved to protect competition and prevent job losses in the country's struggling economy.
AB InBev's acquisition of the London-based SABMiller was valued at USD 121-billion when it was announced in November and in line to be the third largest in history if it clears all regulatory hurdles.
But it is now worth considerably less given the plunge in the value of the pound after Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
Current exchange rates put the value of the acquisition around USD 106.5 billion for Belgium-based AB InBev.
"The Competition Tribunal approved the merger between beer giants Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) and SABMiller plc subject to wide ranging conditions designed to address both public interest and competition concerns," the tribunal said in a statement.
AB InBev, brewer of Stella Artois and Budweiser, secured approval from EU and Australian regulators in May.
Clearance has also been granted by several other countries including India, South Korea, Mexico and Chile.
The acquisition is poised to get approval from both the US Justice Department and China's Ministry of Commerce, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
"We are delighted by the Competition Tribunal's decision to approve our proposed combination with SABMiller in South Africa, a market that would play a critical role in the combined company," the company said.
"We recognise South African Breweries important contribution to the country's economy and society and look forward to building on this through the commitments we have made on jobs."
Isaac Matshego, economist at Nedbank, said he hoped the takeover would bring investment into South Africa and boost local production infrastructure.
"If it does go through, AB InBev could use South Africa as its base for expansion to the rest of the continent, in that way preserving the thin job market," he said.
"Naturally everyone is concerned about jobs at the moment, and it is important that AB InBev finds our local market attractive enough for investment.
