AB-InBev, the largest brewery in the world, has reached a proposed agreement to acquire SABMiller, the second largest, for the price of around $104 billion.
 

If the deal goes through without any shedding of brands (a thing that may be forced upon it by antitrust concerns), the combined brewery would be pulling in over $60 billion a year, dwarfing all of its competitors. AB-InBev would be acquiring not only the famous Miller Lite brand, but a number of brands popular in Africa, a place AB-InBev’s CEO, Carlos Brito, called “a key piece” of the deal. Brito himself, as CEO of the former InBev, oversaw the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, creating the current superpower. There is speculation that this would not be AB-InBev’s last acquisition, given its history, but that it may turn its direction towards Coca Cola, creating a drink behemoth. However, no indication has yet arisen of that fate.

Neither is there any clear indication of how this may or if it will affect the craft brew scene, a market that only continues to grow while larger beer markets plateau. 

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