New York, Nov 12 - Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc shareholders overwhelmingly approved on Wednesday the proposed $52 billion takeover by Belgian rival InBev NV, leaving the blessing of federal regulators as the only remaining hurdle to creating the world's largest brewer.
More than two-thirds of the Budweiser brewer's shareholders voted, with 96 percent voting in favor of the deal. The companies agreed to merge in July after a month-long standoff that became increasingly hostile.
"In the end we all agreed, the InBev proposal is in the best interest of you, our shareholders, and also provides a promising future for our beer brands and all the stakeholders -- employees, wholesalers, retailers and consumers," Chief Executive August A. Busch IV told dozens of shareholders gathered at a special meeting in Secaucus, New Jersey.
"I am excited about the future of this combined company," Busch said about the brewer to be called Anheuser-Busch InBev. "We are about to sell more beer to more people in more countries than any other company in the history of brewing beer."
Busch will be a director of the new company but will have no managerial or executive responsibilities.
Shares of Anheuser-Busch closed down 51 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $66.33 on the New York Stock Exchange while InBev closed down 5.3 percent at 29.41 euros in Brussels.
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InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch has faced a number of bumps along the way, from a political backlash against the foreign takeover of an American icon, to arbitration proceedings by Anheuser partner Grupo Modelo, to a global credit crisis and market volatility that forced InBev to delay a $9.8 billion rights offering.
But on Wednesday, Anheuser and InBev, maker of Stella Artois and Beck's, reiterated that the deal should close by the end of the year, pending approval from antitrust regulators.
The results of Wednesday's meeting came as no surprise to Benj Steinman, publisher of Beer Marketer's Insights.
"It's the end of an era," Steinman said. "In this environment, it's pretty sensible, reasonable and rational to vote for $70 a share."
But Chairman Patrick Stokes, who was Anheuser's chief executive from 2002 to 2006, professed mixed feelings when talking to reporters after the meeting.
"I think that's the bittersweet part of it ... they protected the shareholders' interests well, and at the same time, I think it's rather sad that an independent company, after closing, will no longer be independent," he said.
In Anheuser-Busch's roughly 150-year history, Stokes is the only CEO who was not a member of the Busch family.
For shareholder Marian Barry, who drove about 6 hours from suburban Pittsburgh with her daughter to attend what they thought would be a historic event, Wednesday's meeting turned out to be "anti-climactic."
"It was disappointing. I expected more conversation, more information," said Barry, who inherited her shares from her late husband's mother, who had been a Budweiser distributor.
"I thought they would pacify us ... I thought they'd say 'we're not abandoning the U.S.A.,'" she said.