SABMiller was founded as South African Breweries in 1895 to serve a growing market of miners and prospectors in and around Johannesburg. Two years later, it became the first industrial company to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. From the early 1990s onwards, the company increasingly expanded internationally, making several acquisitions in both emerging and developed markets. In 1999, it formed a new UK-based holding company, SAB plc, and moved its primary listing to London. In May 2002, SAB plc acquired Miller Brewing, forming SABMiller plc.
The acquisition of SABMiller by Anheuser-Busch InBev on 10 October 2016 ended the corporate use of the name SABMiller; this entity became a business division of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (abbreviated as AB InBev) began trading on the Brussels Stock Exchange as ABI, as BUD on the New York stock exchange and as ANH on the Johannesburg market. SABMiller ceased trading on global stock markets
The company divested itself of its interests in the MillerCoors beer company to Molson Coors. On 21 December 2016, the company agreed to sell the former SABMiller Ltd. business in Eastern Europe to Asahi Breweries Group Holdings, Ltd. Anheuser-Busch InBev had previously agreed to sell Grolsch Brewery, Peroni Brewery and Meantime Brewery to Asahi; that deal closed on 12 October 2016. On the same day, the sale of SABMiller’s 49 percent share in the world’s largest volume beer brand, Snow beer to China Resources Enterprise was also closed.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV is also selling much of an SABMiller’s subsidiary that was bottling and distributing Coca-Cola to the Coca-Cola Company. The affected regions include Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, El Salvador and Honduras.
Companies such as South African Breweries and Cartlton & United Brewing that were subsidiaries of SABMiller, and were not sold after SABMiller was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, are now subsidiaries of AB InBev. CUB was sold to Asahi in July 2020.
Beverages
SABMiller beers on display as SABMiller World in Pilsen, Czech Republic
Before the acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBev on 10 October 2016, the SABMiller brands included some classified by the company as “global beers”, which are the flagships of SAB Miller: Foster’s made in Australia, Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic, Tyskie made in Poland and Miller Genuine Draft.
All of the Miller brands were sold to Molson Coors on 11 October 2016. Pilsner Urquell and Tyskie are among the brands being sold to Asahi Breweries.
SAB Miller also owned over 150 market-leading local brands. The company was one of the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottlers and had carbonated soft-drink bottling operations in 14 markets. These were subsequently owned by the new Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV entity which is also a PepsiCo bottler. In December 2016, Coca-Cola Co. bought the Coca-Cola operations in Africa and in two Central American countries. The deal requires regulatory approval and should close by the end of 2017.