USA: Anheuser-Busch welcomes Berkshire Hathaway as a shareholder

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., USA largest beer maker, announced on April 21 it has welcomed Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, as a shareholder. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has recently acquired a significant stake in the brewery.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch did not desclose how much of a stake Buffett's holding company bought.

Shares of Anheuser-Busch rose $2.94, or 6.5 percent, to close at $48.04 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, where they have traded in the range of $44.85 to $54.74 over the past year.

Shares of Berkshire rose $1,100, or 1.3 percent, to close at $83,800 on the NYSE, near the lower end of their 52-week range of $81,150 to $93,700, according to Associated Press.

The Securities and Exchange commission requires companies to report within 10 days if they have taken a stake of at least 5 % in another company.

Berkshire has not made any filings with the SEC regarding Anheuser-Busch. Berkshire's 2004 annual report did not list Anheuser-Busch as a company in which it has a stake of at least $600 million.

Based on Wednesday's closing price, a 5 % stake in Anheuser-Busch would cost about $1.8 billion.

Before Thursday's announcement, Anheuser-Busch's shares had fallen 11.5 percent in the past year, according to Reuters. The company has struggled to boost volume, relying on price increases to fuel profit growth, as many health-conscious drinkers have shifted to wine our distilled spirits.

Analysts said Berkshire's interest in Anheuser-Busch could be viewed as a vote of confidence by Buffett in the brewer's long-term potential despite its recent struggles as the U.S. beer business has softened, according to Associated Press.

Earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch cut its earnings forecast for 2005 for the second time this year, citing weaker-than-expected U.S. beer volume in the first quarter. "When the near-term prospects are flatter than day-old beer, this is wonderful" for Anheuser-Busch, Juli Niemann, a St. Louis-based analyst with RT Jones Capital Equities, said of Buffett's stake. "The consensus is that he always buys good value."

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. is the leading U.S. brewer and holds a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer. The company also is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and is the world’s largest recycler of aluminum beverage containers.

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