Anheuser 'to shun bid and get back to basics'

Anheuser will instead put to shareholders a plan to restructure the company and return to its core business of brewing and selling beer.

The plan sees the sale of the company's theme-park operations and packaging business, the Wall Street Journal reports, but it staff would also be axed.

The rejection of the offer puts the ball back in the Belgians' court. Analysts had already suggested the price would have to be raised, but InBev is still apparently mulling the idea of taking the offer directly to the US company's shareholders.

InBev is getting impatient. It has told Anheuser-Busch that it is happy to talk about the bid but time is "of the essence".

The Stella Artois maker has received no official word from Anheuser since making the offer two weeks ago. Analysts say that Anheuser is relatively defenceless against takeover.

One of the few ideas being considered is increasing its investment in Mexican brewer Modelo, the maker of Corona. That could render Anheuser indigestibly large for InBev, but any deal is problematic. The two brewers have had a sometimes tense relationship and the family controlling Modelo prizes its independence.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway is Anheuser's second-largest shareholder after Barclays Global Investors, said he sees the beer battle as "an interesting spectator sport" but has not thrown his support behind either side.

InBev has rejected critics' concerns that it can raise the massive funding for the deal in the current climate.

The company says that it has commitment letters for the financing for the deal and has paid $50 million in commitment fees to a 10-bank lending group.

Shares in Anheuser closed up 1.03% at $61.76 while InBev shares fell 1.13% to €46.30.