Small investors to vote on beer merger

LONDON — A British court has ruled that two groups of shareholders in brewing company SAB-Miller should vote separately on the $104 billion takeover offer made by rival Anheuser-Busch In-Bev, effectively giving smaller investors an outside chance to derail the deal.

The decision Tuesday is seen as a concession to smaller shareholders who complained that their payout plummeted in relation to larger investors after the pound fell following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. While smaller shareholders will receive cash for their stakes, SAB-Miller’s two biggest investors will get cash and euro-denominated shares that have appreciated since the deal was announced in November.

SAB-Miller’s board has in principle accepted the deal, which would create a company controlling nearly a third of the global beer market.

AB In-Bev, the maker of Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois, is trying to buy SAB-Miller in a deal that would merge the world’s two largest beer-makers. The takeover had to pass regulatory hurdles around the globe. But just as the deal was nearing completion, Britain voted to leave the EU.

Since then, AB In-Bev shares, which are priced in euros, have risen 3.2 percent and the pound has plunged against the European currency. That reduced the value of the cash-only offer compared with the cash-and-stock option.