InBev made a nonbinding US$46 billion bid to acquire American beer giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc (AB), the companies announced on June 11.

InBev will undoubtedly become the largest beer producer in world if the acquisition is completed. SABMiller in England is the number one brewery in terms of quantity produced, followed by Belgium-based Inbev, while AB is third. The combination of the world's first and third largest beer producers will naturally overshadow SABMiller.

If AB accepts the offer, the acquisition will greatly influence China's beer industry.

It will help in further shaping the oligopoly monopoly market in China, said by Qu Yongxiang, an industrial analyst.

He added that it will add more pressure to Chinese local enterprise like Yanjing Beer in the long term, but it won't be hugely influential in the short term.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese (http://www.dfdaily.com/node2/node27/node120/userobject1ai92217.shtml).

(China.org.cn by Hou Xiaoying June 13, 2008)