Yahoo Finance HSBC's Gulliver Angles For Megabrew Deal Role
The chief executive of HSBC is pitching for Europe's largest bank to play a major role in financing a possible takeover of SABMiller (Xetra: BRW1.DE - news) by the US-based brewing giant which owns Budweiser.
Sky News has learnt that Stuart Gulliver met executives from Anheuser-Busch InBev late last week to discuss a potential involvement for HSBC in what would be the biggest-ever takeover of a UK company.
Mr Gulliver's meeting with AB InBev directors underlines the lucrative fees associated with financing major mergers and acquisitions.
Unlike some of his peers who run banks with retail and investment banking operations, Mr Gulliver frequently gets involved in client-facing transactional work, according to people close to him.
The full line-up of lending banks - which will collectively provide roughly $70bn of funding for AB InBev - has not yet been determined, according to sources.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) and Santander were among the lenders being lined up for financing roles.
Sources said that Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) was also attempting to play a part in what would be the largest takeover financing this year.
A formal offer for SAB Miller, which owns the Peroni and Grolsch brands, is expected to be tabled by AB InBev next week, and will value the London-listed company at more than $100bn.
The success of AB InBev's offer will depend to a degree on the response of Altria, the tobacco company which makes Marlboro cigarettes and which is a 27% shareholder in SABMiller.
The combined brewing giant which would emerge from a deal involving SABMiller and AB InBev would be required to dispose of major interests in the US and China.
Substantial job cuts triggered by the duplication of roles across the two companies would also be inevitable, analysts believe.
HSBC declined to comment.
