McCains to Profit on Anheuser, InBev Deal

[ErinBerin84]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/07/14/mccains-to-profit-on-anheuser-inbev-deal/


Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is set to get a huge payout from the sale of Anheuser-Busch Cos., brewer of Budweiser and hundreds of other brands, to Belgian beverage giant InBev NV.



(Associated Press)
McCain, the heiress to the third-largest Anheuser distributor, owns at a minimum $1 million in the American company, according to John McCain’s Senate financial disclosure forms, which don’t offer any more information for large assets held by his spouse. Under the deal, she and other stockholders will get a cash payout for the stock, which is owned through her company, Hensley and Co.

Anheuser’s stock price opened at $67.55 today, almost a 50% gain over the near $47 price in February when the possibility of a deal was made public. Cashing out could leave the McCains with hefty capital gains, which would be taxed at a rate of 15% under the Bush tax cuts that John McCain opposed and now supports. (Barack Obama has proposed raising the capital gains tax.)

Hensley and Co., founded by Cindy McCain’s father, has an exclusive distribution deal for Budweiser and other products in the Phoenix area. The merger is unlikely to affect that arraignment, and the company already sells InBev brands, including Stella Artois and Beck’s, through an existing agreement with Anheuser.

While many distributors around the country are ending exclusive deals, Hensley has so-far remained in a strong pairing with Anheuser, though it would likely do just fine picking up other brands under a non-exclusive relationship, said Joe Thompson, president of the Independent Beverage Group, a market-analysis firm.

“I don’t think any substantial effect anytime in the near term, meaning the next 6 to 18 months,” Thompson said. “I think beyond that all distributors will be affected, just depending on whether this helps sales or not. Suspicions are it’s not going to help a lot.”

[islandmkl]

1. should buy cindy several months of shopping...

on the other hand, and i am a pretty much life-long bud (more often than not) drinker...

i can't wait till the deal goes through, and all the jethro's will be saying: "Them fur'ners has done f***ed up Bud. It don't taste nothin' like it used to."

same breweries, same water, same process...the scourge of foreign ownership will change the taste...oh well, time to send Peter Coors and his pack of neocons some $$$....

[newmajority]

2. Just as long as it doesn't make Beck's taste worse.

That's what will probably happen.... The Budweiser products will remain as shitty as they have always been, but they'll start brewing a watered down "Beck's" and "Stella Artois" out of St. Louis and they will be undrinkable. :puke:

[islandmkl]

4. you know that's right...

it is about 'distribution'...and profits (can you say cost-cutting for Beck's and Stella, etc. products?)

[blondeatlast]

3. Pilsner Urquell. Cindy doesn't make a friggin' dime off my favorite beer!

:evilgrin:

[Omaha Steve]

5. Remember the Heinz flap about HER fortune?

Where are those idiots now?

I drink mostly MGB btw.