PIC wants beer giant to stay here

ANHEUSER-Busch (AB) InBev’s rejected £65.2 billion (R1.35 trillion) offer for SABMiller addresses concerns that the brewer will lose its listing on the JSE, according to the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the target company’s fourthlargest shareholder.

“The PIC’s preference has always been for SABMiller to remain listed in the country of its origin, South Africa,” Africa’s largest money manager said yesterday.

AB InBev’s latest offer includes an intention to have a secondary listing on South Africa’s bourse and plans to keep Johannesburg as an African headquarters for the combined group. The company also plans to form a South African board.

The PIC, a state-owned manager of government pension funds, owns 3.14 percent of SABMiller, which can trace its roots to 19th century South Africa. – Bloomberg