Brief - The Hustle

Budweiser owner AB InBev brews up a $9.8B Hong Kong IPO

Written by Conor Grant | Jun 30, 2020 10:37:13 AM

The big brewer behind Budweiser announced plans to raise $9.8B in a Hong Kong IPO, valuing the Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Asia-Pacific business at $64B — or about the value of Heineken.

Move over, Uber… AB InBev is THIRSTY

At $9.8B, the public offering would be the biggest IPO of the year — and also the largest IPO for a food or drink company in history. 

AB Inbev’s Asia-Pacific unit — which includes Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Corona — accounts for 18% of the company’s overall sales. Last year, the unit’s revenue rose 8.6% to $8.46B.

But are Asian markets really THAT thirsty for Bud’s suds?

Budweiser is the 3rd-largest beer brand in China (although it also owns the Chinese beer company Harbin, which is the 5th best-selling brand).

But, much like in America and other Western countries, per capita consumption of beer in China has declined slightly in recent years — raising questions about this sky-high Budweiser forecast.