After having recently bought Fosters, fresh rumours surfaced yesterday that SABMiller might itself face a takeover from Anheuser-Busch InBev, the biggest brewer in the world. SAB shares soared 7% to their highest gain in almost three years as a result.

Trevor Stirling, of London-based Bernstein Research, wrote earlier this year that if such a deal were ever to take place, at the right price of course, SABMiller management could pocket about £650 million with their current share options.

That would nice.

But, analysts have downplayed the speculation claiming such a deal would be contrary to recent direction from AB InBev management.

Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Brito also said in July that the Budweiser brewer is “the right size” and is currently focusing attention on so- called organic growth.

The rumours and subsequent share rise followed from a report by Guilherme Barros, a Sao Paulo-based website columnist, who claimed a deal could be worth about $80 billion.

He didn’t say how he obtained that information, and it’s expected some kind of statement will come from both brewers as a result.

Both Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller have expanded through acquisitions as well as organic growth in recent times and both are currently killing it in an otherwise unstable market.

The former previously bought AmBev, a leading Brazilian beer company, before taking over Anheuser-Busch, and SABMiller agreed to buy Foster’s Group not too long ago.

[Source: IOL]