Anheuser Busch

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the world's largest beer maker, completed its purchase of a 29% stake of Harbin Brewery Group Ltd., setting up a possible battle with No. 2 SABMiller for control of the China-based brewer. Anheuser-Busch said it acquired the shares for $139 million. The closing of the deal came after SABMiller, which owns a 29.4% stake in Harbin, made a May 5 hostile takeover bid for all the Chinese beer maker's shares. Harbin has asked shareholders to reject SABMiller's offer.

The family of former home run king Roger Maris and Anheuser-Busch Cos. settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the brewer's termination of the family's beer distributorship just as jurors reached a verdict Tuesday. Neither side disclosed terms of the settlement, which came as the all-female jury reached a decision that was sealed, on the second day of deliberations in a three-week trial in state civil court. The Maris family had been seeking as much as $5 billion.

Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, is testing in Carson a premium beer that some experts think is aimed at the growing raft of microbrews. It is called Meridian, a light-bodied beer with 85 calories per 12-ounce serving--about 25 fewer than Bud Light. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch said it chose Carson in part because light brews sell well in that city, but it declined to provide further details of the test.

Brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos., known for beer commercials chock full of sexual humor, said Thursday that it planned to tone down its raunchier advertising amid a high-profile outcry against indecency in the media. "We are taking a more cautious approach to our creative [advertising] ... to understand what the country is feeling right now," Anheuser-Busch President August Busch IV told ad agency executives at a conference in Miami.

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the world's largest beer maker, said it will begin selling its tequila-flavored beer across the U.S. on Monday, in part to combat rising sales of Mexican imports. The new beer, called Tequiza, has been test-marketed since 1997 in Texas, New Mexico, Florida, New York City and parts of California. It is a blend of beer, lime and imported tequila. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch dominates the U.S. beer market with a 48.2% share, while Philip Morris Cos.' No. 2 Miller has 21.

Anheuser-Busch Cos. will contest a Swiss court ruling that prevents the U.S. brewer from using the trademark "Bud" in Switzerland for one of its most famous beers, labeled "Budweiser" in the U.S. and other countries, a lawyer for the company said. A Swiss court ruled that "Bud" is too similar to the name of a beer made by state-owned Czech brewer Budweiser/Budvar AS. Budvar and Anheuser-Busch have been fighting the trademark war in courts around Europe for decades.

Anheuser-Busch Inc. and a distributor have offered $21 million to settle lawsuits brought by survivors and family members of those who died in a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people, according to court papers filed Friday. More than $120 million has now been offered to victims of the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., including past settlements with Home Depot, Clear Channel Broadcasting and fireworks makers. The St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch and its Cranston, R.I.-based distributor, McLaughlin & Moran, did not admit wrongdoing.

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation's largest brewer, reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract with the Teamsters after nearly two years of bitter negotiations. Under terms of the agreement with about 8,000 workers, wages will rise by about 13% and the St. Louis-based company will keep open its 12 breweries. "The most important issue was job security and that's what we've been able to achieve with this settlement," said Chip Roth, a Teamsters spokesman.

Will an embossed can help boost Budweiser sales? St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. is testing a new, embossed can in two U.S. markets--Santa Barbara and Phoenix--and in Japan. The can features raised "Budweiser" letters and the company's distinctive logo. Anheuser-Busch has experimented with different colors and photographs on its cans, as well as a container that changed colors when the beer was refrigerated. "Could it help them sell more beer?

Flavored mineral water, long overshadowed by soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, received a significant boost Monday as the nation's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, announced that it has purchased Sante Mineral Waters of Santa Rosa, Calif. "This acquisition is consistent with . . . (our) objective to expand to new products that have generated a high level of consumer demand and have long-term growth potential," said T. Michael Carpenter, Anheuser-Busch group vice president. The St.