Molson Coors To Buyout MillerCoors JV, Global Miller Brand Portfolio For $12 Bln

(RTTNews) - Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TAP-A, TAP) announced Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, or AB InBev (BUD, AHBIF.PK) to purchase British brewer SABMiller Plc's (SAB.L, SABMRY.PK) 58% stake in MillerCoors, the joint venture formed in the United States by SABMiller and Molson Coors in 2008.

Molson Coors currently owns 42% of MillerCoors. Under the agreement, Molson Coors will also acquire full ownership of the Miller brand portfolio outside of the U.S. and retain the rights to all of the brands currently in the MillerCoors portfolio for the US market.

The transaction is valued at $12.0 billion, and is conditioned upon the closing of AB InBev's acquisition of SABMiller, which is expected in the second half of 2016.

Molson Coors expects the deal to add approximately $4.7 billion in incremental revenue and more than $1.0 billion in incremental EBITDA on a pro forma basis.

The acquisition is expected to be more than 25% accretive to Molson Coors' cash earnings in the first full year of operations before the benefit of synergies.

The company said the transaction will be financed through a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from issuances of new debt and equity. Molson Coors has received committed debt financing from Citigroup Global Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS Investment Bank.