Belgian brewer Interbrew and South African Breweries are not holding merger talks, and neither of the companies' boards has seen any merger documents, according to banking sources.
Both Interbrew and SAB declined to comment on a report in the
Financial Times
today that Interbrew has been plotting a bid for SAB.
The banking sources said investment banks Goldman Sachs and Lazards had looked at SAB as part of a general strategy review at Interbrew, and although the deal has some attractions there were very many obstacles.
"This would have to be a friendly merger, and neither of the boards have seen any document. This is incredibly premature," said one banking source.
"These were documents that were put together in a strategic review of rivals and Interbrew options. This was something that was produced in the course of a routine analysis of rival companies," he added.
Shares in SAB soared in London and Johannesburg on the bid report. In London SAB was last up 6.5 per cent at 471p.
In South Africa the shares jumped 8.5 per cent to a new year-high of 68 rand at the opening, before settling back to 66 rand, up 5.2 per cent.
The Financial Timessaid it had seen documents prepared by advisers that indicated an approach could be announced on December 3rd, with the offer closing on January 7th.
SAB, which has its primary listing in London, has a market capitalisation of £3.5 billion, suggesting that a bidder would have to offer more than £4 billion.
The combination of Interbrew, the maker of Stella Artois, and SAB, whose business empire stretches out far beyond its core Castle Lager beer which dominates its home market, would be marginally smaller than US group Anheuser-Busch by volume of beer produced.