PORTLAND — Anheuser-Busch InBev declined an option to buy all of Widmer Brothers Brewing parent Craft Brew Alliance on Friday and shares of Portland-based CBA fell sharply as a result.
The decision ends an opportunity for the global brewing giant to gobble up the rest of one of Oregon’s last remaining pioneering breweries.
AB InBev must pay $20 million to the Portland-based brewing consortium and to continue providing it with the global brewing giant’s network of production facilities and distribution networks.
For the past three years, AB InBev, the largest brewery in the U.S. and maker of Budweiser and Bud Light brands, has owned slightly more than 31 percent of the CBA, and it had an Aug. 24 deadline to buy the rest of the company for $24.50 per share, about $475 million altogether.
That’s 89 percent above CBA’s closing share price of $12.96 Thursday, signaling that investors thought a deal was unlikely at the option price. CBA’s share price dropped 8.3 percent Friday morning nonetheless, to $11.89.
