SABMiller, the world’s second largest brewer, has promptly rejected an improved offer from bigger rival Anheuser-Busch InBev, saying on Wednesday that its £68 billion (€92 billion) valuation was insufficient.

Earlier Belgium-based AB InBev said it was willing to pay £42.15 in cash per SABMiller share, having already made two prior offers at £38 and £40, the increase made possible if its two biggest shareholders accept a lower value share-and-cash alternative offer.

But SABMiller said its board, excluding the directors nominated by its biggest shareholder Altria, has unanimously rejected the proposal.

“It still very substantially undervalues SABMiller, its unique and unmatched footprint, and its standalone prospects,” the UK-based company said in a statement.

SABMiller chairman Jan du Plessis had earlier described his company as “the crown jewel of the global brewing industry” and described AB InBev’s proposals as designed to be unattractive to many shareholders.

AB InBev is offering an alternative to the cash offer of partial payment in shares, limited to about 41 per cent of SABMiller stock and expected to be taken up by the brewer’s top two shareholders, Altria and the Santo Domingo family of Colombia, who together own 40.5 per cent.

Under this offer shareholders would get £2.37 a share plus 0.48 special unlisted AB InBev shares which are convertible into ordinary stock after a five-year lock-up period.