Brussels, Nov 24 - Anheuser-Busch Inbev launched a planned eight-for-five rights issue on Monday to part-fund the $52 billion purchase of U.S. Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch at a steep discount of 6.45 euros per shares.
The issue of 986.1 million new shares, intended to raise $9.8 billion, will run from Nov. 25 until Dec. 9, 2008.
In euro terms, the total size is 6.36 billion euros, given that InBev had pre-hedged its euro/dollar exposure at $1.5409, against the current rate of around $1.25.
The Belgium-listed brewer, whose shares closed at 20.6 euros on Friday, said in a statement that it expected total net proceeds after costs and expenses to be 6.26 billion euros.
ABInbev's controlling shareholders will subscribe to 2.8 billion euros in new funds.
The company also said that an accelerated placement of up to some 1.2 billion of ex-rights ABInbev shares was being launched on Monday on behalf of the Belgian shareholders and Sebastien holdings.
The brewer, which sealed its takeover last week, had planned to carry out the rights issue last month, but postponed it due to volatile financial markets.
BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners of the offering.