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Posted
Aug 22 2008, 10:30 AM
by
Todd Harrison
Rating:
The sour U.S. economy is unlikely to rebound before 2009, billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Friday.
He said the credit crunch will continue to worsen, and noted that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke doesn’t have a “magic wand” to strengthen the economy and tame inflation.
“You always find out who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out,” Buffett told CNBC. “We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach.”
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Posted
Jul 14 2008, 05:10 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
The board at Anheuser-Busch did the right thing. It got a offer well above market to sell the company. It fought for more money. When it got the better price. It sold.
BUD stock has been stuck in the mid-$50s for some time. The beer business is OK, but it is hardly a growth industry. With a global recession underway, it is hard to see why InBev wants to buy Bud at such a high price, but, to seal the deal, it upped its offer to $70 a share. Anheuser-Busch was not likely to see its stock at that level for a long, long time. It simply did not have a way to enhance the attractiveness of its business
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Posted
Jul 07 2008, 11:54 AM
by
Todd Harrison
Rating:
InBev's bid for Anheuser-Busch is turning into a barroom brawl.
The Belgian brewer will attempt to remove Anheuser-Busch's board of directors to give shareholders a "direct voice" in the planned takeover. InBev plans to file the necessary paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.
InBev proposes to keep Adolphus Busch IV on the reconstituted board and add former Guidant Chief Executive Officer Ronald Dollens (Guidant merged with Boston Scientific); former Nabisco Chief Financial Officer James Healey; former Pillsbury CEO John Lilly; former GlaxoSmithKline CEO Ernest Mario; and former Lockheed Martin Chief Counsel William Vinson.
Overall, beer is a ho-hum, slow-growth industry.
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Posted
Jun 27 2008, 07:37 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Since InBev launched its audacious $46 billion offer for Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch, investors, analysts, and proud American beer drinkers have all been awaiting word from the executive suite in St. Louis: What's it going to be, yay or nay to the Brazilian-led but Belgian-owned predator?
Yesterday, in a scathing rebuke, CEO August Busch IV didn’t just say no but made an impassioned call to arms. He called the unsolicited offer "financially inadequate" and not in the best interests of shareholders. He touted management's efforts to boost shareholder value through its Blue Ocean cost-reduction program. He stressed the brewer's global footprint. He flaunted Anheuser's renowned brand-building abilities and the power of the Budweiser and Bud Light brands. He even made it personal and told InBev CEO Carlos Brito to take his money and his big dreams elsewhere.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 06:59 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
InBev's $46 billion cash offer for Anheuser-Busch is turning into a global economic nightmare for those proud of their Great American Lager. It's bad enough that a Belgian brewer run by a bunch of Brazilians is trying to buyout the last of the great U.S. beer makers -- this after Miller was made South African in 2002 and Coors became part-Canadian in 2004.
But now, fate has it that the best hope for keeping Anheuser free from the clutches of foreigners rests with the Fernandez family, controllers of Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewery famous for Corona.
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Posted
Jun 17 2008, 10:30 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
In a surprising move, Warren Buffett told the Belgian newspaper De Standard this morning that he supports InBev's $46 billion cash offer for Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch. His Berkshire Hathaway owns some 35 million shares, or a 5% stake in the iconic beer maker.
The endorsement comes as a bit of a slap in the face for Anheuser CEO August Busch IV, who was trying to buy some time as indicated in this formal response sent to InBev yesterday. In fact, the Oracle of Omaha was going to grace Mr. Busch with his presence later this week to talk the deal through.
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Posted
Jun 16 2008, 10:18 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
As you've no doubt heard by now, Anheuser-Busch, the business behind one of America's most iconic brands, is being pursued by foreigners. Late last week, Belgian-based brewer InBev launched an unsolicited all-cash buyout offer worth some $46 billion. Not surprisingly, given a dour U.S. populace, the deal is already generating serious backlash on rumors of job cuts and brewery closings. Jokes that the famous Clydesdales could be sent to a glue factory to help pay down post-merger debt aren't helping either.
Although the deal can't be classified as a matter of national security, as was the case with high-profile acquisition attempts by Dubai Ports World and CNOOC, I have a feeling this one will strike a chord with the average guy on the street. In the words of the Economist, "Could anything symbolize America's loss of economic supremacy more clearly than for its favorite beer to fall into foreign hands?" Politicians are drooling
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Posted
Apr 07 2008, 09:38 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Sin stocks have been getting a lot of attention lately. Shares of breweries, casino operators, tobacco growers, and weapons makers are once again being recognized for their recession-proof qualities. Normally dull Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ran a big piece on the sector recently, while BusinessWeek pointed out that a vice fund has outperformed a leading socially-responsible fund. After all, no matter what's happening to the stock market, the housing market, or the jobs market, people will continue their wanton ways.
This brings us to beer, America's alcoholic beverage of choice. Shunned for years by a public crazed by fancy wines, imported beers, and micro-brews, plain domestic beer looks ready for a renaissance as consumers retrench and get back to basics. Instead of $45 pinot noirs with accents of spice, berries, and rose petals, budget-conscious shoppers will opt for the cheap 12-pack. This bodes well for Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewer in the United States and the fourth-largest worldwide.
Lester Jones, chief economist of the Beer Institute, an industry group, sheds some light on this trend in his latest industry update. Using data from a survey of consumer expenditures by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, he found that while U.S. households spend about $426 on alcoholic beverages per year on average, there is a definite shift towards beer as income falls. For households with more than $50,000 in income, 41% of their "alcohol budget" is spent on beer. In comparison, this share is nearly 60% for lower income households. So, as consumers continue to feel poorer through declines in real income and home equity, look for beer sales to grow at the expense of fancier grape-based avenues to inebriation.
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Posted
Mar 27 2008, 12:46 AM
by
Jon Markman
Rating:
If it seems like you are paying more for your cereal, beer and pizza lately, shake your fist in the direction of Pakistan, Uganda and Argentina, because a weird confluence of international events are combining to slash the world supply of wheat and boost prices. The downside of globalization is that a crop failure 10,000 miles away can lead to pricier brewskis here.
It's actually a lot more serious than that. The New Scientist magazine reports that a wheat disease that started in central Africa actually threatens to destroy most of the world wheat crop, leaving millions to starve. A fungus called Ug99 has already spread from Africa to Iran and is bearing down on Pakistan, according to the report. This is bad news because Pakistan and Punjab wheat is extremely important to the entire food chain of the densely populous plains of South Asia.
According to reports, scientists hope to slow the spread of Ug99 by spraying new forms of fungicide but the only real firebreak will come when agronomists are able to create Ug99-resistant strains of wheat over the next few years. The disease, which is said to be a super-strong strain of black stem rust, first came to light in Uganda in 1999 and has since ruined crops in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. Now winds are expected to take the spores to Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Iran. Chinese scientists are said to be on a crash program to develop Ug99-resistant wheat strains before the disease ravages its already weakened croplands.
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Posted
Jan 31 2008, 02:23 PM
by
Robert Walberg
Rating:
There are some rumors that never die. Elvis is living on a beach in South America. There are bunch of alien life forms locked up in a government warehouse somewhere in the Nevada desert. The shot came from the grassy knoll. And Coca-Cola Co. is about to buy Hansen Natural.
Unfortunately, there's no more evidence behind the Hansen rumor than any of the others. Yes, the stock shot up over 4% yesterday on about 1.5 times normal volume, and, yes, word spread that a UBS analyst noted that Coke was interested in Hansen, but that doesn't add up to an offer, or even the hint of an offer.
First of all, Hansen fell by more than 10% the day before on roughly two times average volume. Consequently, the fact that the stock bounced a bit in Thursday's session should come as no surprise -- especially given the market tone and the comments from the UBS analyst about Coca-Cola. However it should be noted that a kid taking introduction to business in high school could tell you that Coke has an interest in Hansen. It's about as obvious as speculating that Paris Hilton has an interest in publicity, or that Senator Hillary Clinton has an interest in the primary outcomes on February 5th. In other words, this wasn't the stuff of genius. More like obvious speculation. Like saying the Chicago Bears have an interest in Tom Brady.
With Hansen Natural's stock down about 44% from its highs a few months back, the stock would appear to be cheap. So if you're the management team at Coke and you've been thinking about buying Hansen, now would seem like a good time to pull the trigger on a deal. Obvious... right?
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