The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing on Anheuser-Busch InBev’s proposed plan to purchase SABMiller in a deal worth more than $103 billion.
U.S. Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, committee chairman, said the committee will examine how the proposed merger will impact consumers and competition across the country.
“This hearing will provide an opportunity to publicly examine the impact of the so-called 'beerhemoth' merger on consumers and for the Antitrust Subcommittee to continue its oversight of potentially anticompetitive market consolidation,” Lee said. “Should the deal be finalized, I look forward to a productive and informative discussion."
The companies announced earlier this month they had reached agreement in principle on the key terms of a possible takeover of SABMiller by AB InBev. A combined company would have a value of approximately $275 billion and would produce about one-third of the world’s beer supply. The proposed deal must be approved by regulators and will likely be put under scrutiny of antitrust laws to ensure a takeover does not prohibit fair competition.