AB InBev moved a step closer to completing its ￡71bn takeover of SABMiller, after China Resources Beer agreed to buy out the London-listed group’s stake in their Chinese brewery joint venture.

中国华润啤酒(China Resources Beer)同意全盘收购英国上市集团SABMiller在中国华润雪花啤酒(China Resources Snow Breweries)所持的股份，此举使得百威英博(AB InBev)朝着完成以710亿英镑收购SABMiller的交易又迈进了一步。华润雪花啤酒是华润啤酒与SABMiller在中国的合资企业。

China Resources Beer will acquire SABMiller’s 49 per cent stake in China Resources Snow Breweries — the brewer of the world’s top-selling beer — for $1.6bn, ending a 22 year-old joint venture that produced voluminous vats but punier profits.

华润啤酒将斥资16亿美元收购SABMiller在华润雪花啤酒所持的49%股份，为双方长达22年的合资经营画上句号。华润雪花啤酒是全球销量最高的啤酒酿造商，但这家合资企业产量虽高，利润却比较微薄。

Investors applauded the deal, sending China Resources Beer’s share price up as much as 34.6 per cent to HK$17.20 in morning trading in Hong Kong.

投资者对这笔交易表示欢迎，在香港股市早盘交易中，华润啤酒的股价一度上涨34.6%，至每股17.20港元。

The transaction is a key milestone for AB InBev as it has been shedding assets to win regulatory approval across the globe to close the largest beer deal in history, dubbed MegaBrew by analysts.

对百威英博来说，这笔交易是一个重要里程碑。该公司一直在剥离资产，以求世界各国的监管机构批准它完成有史以来最大的一笔啤酒行业并购交易。

Regulators around the world are looking closely at the deal as AB InBev’s acquisition of SABMiller will create a megabrewer that is likely to control almost half the industry’s total profits.

世界各国的监管机构正在密切关注这笔并购交易，因为百威英博收购SABMiller将创造出一个“巨型酿酒厂”，它很可能会控制该行业总利润的将近一半。

Snow beer is already the largest beer brand in China, with 21 per cent of the market, according to Euromonitor. But Snow is pitched at the lower end of the market, where margins are slim and sales have been hit by the mainland economic slowdown and consumers’ changing tastes.

欧睿(Euromonitor)的数据显示，雪花啤酒已是中国最大的啤酒品牌，占有21%的国内市场份额。但雪花啤酒定位于较低端市场、利润空间微薄，而且其销量也受到中国内地经济增长放缓和消费者口味变化的冲击。

A combined AB InBev and SABMiller entity would have had more than 40 per cent of the beer market in China, putting it in antitrust regulators’ sights.

百威英博和SABMiller合并后将在中国啤酒市场占据40%以上的市场份额，因此招致了反垄断监管机构的关注。

When InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch in 2008, in the first published ruling of the new antitrust regime, Mofcom banned InBev from taking a stake in CR Snow.

2008年英博集团(InBev)收购安海斯-布希(Anheuser-Busch)时，中国商务部依据新颁布的反垄断法作出了首例公开裁决，禁止英博入股华润雪花啤酒。