Bud employees facing buyout decision by Oct. 31 - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Those employees, eligible for the company’s early retirement have until Oct. 31 to accept the The buyout is part ofthe brewery’s dubbed Blue Ocean, to cut $1 billion in costs over the next four yeards with approximately $750 million of that amount coming in 2008 and 2009. The company hopes 10 percent to 15 percent ofits 8,609 U.S.-based salaried employees will accept the The planned work force cuts came prior to the agreement by Anheuser-Busc h to be acquired by Belgian brewedr . If not enough employeesa leavethe company, those left behinf could face the possibility of layoffs next year, eitherd by Anheuser-Busch or under InBev ownership.
Decisione about whether to accept the buyout arebeinh muddled, however, by continued uncertainty about Anheuser-Busch’s futurde and InBev’s ability to close on its $52 billionm takeover. On Oct. 15, Merrill Lynch Co. analyst Nico Lambrechts reportedly said InBev may bringin “strategic investors” to help cover the cost of the He did not name who those potential investors mighyt be. Then on Oct.
22, Fitch Ratings downgradec its ratings of someof Anheuser-Busch’s debt and places a “negative outlook” on the “The Negative Outlook reflects the recent turmoil in financial markets and more restricted access to capitall markets,” according to a statementy by Fitch. “The current situation presents a major challenge for successful asset dispositiones in a timely manner and potentialrefinancingb risk. Another risk is to complete the integration of BUD quicklyy in order to reducse costs and improvecash flow.
An additional concern is deteriorating consumer sentiment in many which could reducethe company’zs ability to achieve favorable improvements in producrt mix and volume particularly in fiscal year 2009 and fiscak year 2010.” InBev had planned to financse its acquisition of Anheuser-Busch through a $45 billion debt facility and an equitty sale. But on Oct. 14, InBev postponedx its plan to sell equity in the companh due to the volatility of the global capital markets and recent dropsin InBev’s share It will instead take out a $9.8 billioh equity bridge loan to buy some time for the marketxs to stabilize before tryinhg an offering again afte r the deal closes.
InBecv also plans to pay down debt by sellintg offapproximately $7 billion in non-corse Anheuser-Busch assets. But Fitch and Lambrechts both cited concernsabout InBev’s ability to sell such assetas in the coming Finding buyers for Anheuser-Busch theme parks, for example, will probably be more difficult given the tight creditt markets and weakening economy. Although Fitcbh and industry analysts have said they still expecgt the InBev deal to go they don’t have the same level of confidencee they expressed when Anheuser-Busch’s board firsf agreed to the sale.
“We think there are many uncertaintiesdin today’s credit and we are cautiou s of any delays or stumbling blocks to the Morningstar analyst Ann Gilpin wrote in an Oct. 14 note to investorsx that followed an initialwarning Sept. 16. InBegv maintains it has continued backinb by its banks and will complete its purchaseas planned. The brewef has credit commitmentsfrom Fortis, , Banco , ING, , , , JP Morgan and . But severapl of those banks have experience turmoil or received government bailouts in the past few weekxs as the credit crisisspread worldwide. Fortisd was bailed out Sept. 29 by the government of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, whicj invested a combined 11.
2 billion euros ($15.56 billion) in the respective Fortis institutions in their That wasfollowed Oct. 3 by the Dutcuh government’s decision to take control of Fortis’ Dutch operationws for 16.8 billion euros ($23.3 billion). The British government took a controlling staked in Royal Bank of Scotland as part of a bailout RBS and Banco Santander were joint bidders with Fortis for Dutch bank ABN Amro last Their deal to break up ABN ishitting snags, however, following the government interventions at Fortis is now trying to sell its shard of ABN, but so far no buyer has That is spurring uncertainty about how RBS and Santander will be able to integrater ABN assets.
When Bank of England Governorf Mervyn Kingsaid Oct. 22 the United Kingdom facesw a recession, share prices fell at and RBS, the country’s second- and fourth-largest banks, Dutch bank ING received a 10 billioneuro ($12.78 billion) capital infusion by the on Oct. 19. The French government said Oct. 20 it would purchase 2.55 billion euros ($3.27 billion) worthb of subordinated debt from BNP Paribas tospur lending.
“Atr this point, we think the deal is likely to go Gilpin said, “but should the deal fall apart, we would lowefr our fair value estimate for