Updated: Is Anheuser-Busch InBev selling U.S. can plants?
We are picking up lots of rumors that Anheuser-Busch InBev has found a buyer for its can and lid plants in the U.S. Names being tossed around as buyers include Ball Corp. and Silgan Containers, two big suppliers of packaging. We are told that a deal could be announced in the next few days. Anheuser-Busch, Silgan and Ball declined to comment on Monday.
Lager Heads previously reported that executives from other packaging companies were visiting and inspecting Metal Container Corp., the Anheuser-Busch division that manufactures beverage cans and lids. (MCC is a big player. In 2007, it controlled about 25 percent of the aluminum beverage can market in the U.S.)
We stress that we have not confirmed an impending sale, but the sudden increase in tips and heads-ups makes us suspect that something is up. It was widely suspected that Anheuser-Busch InBev would have to sell its packaging division, or parts of it, to pay off debt from the combination of Anheuser-Busch and InBev. Analyst Gerard Rijk of ING estimates that Anheuser-Busch InBev still has $4.5 billion of asset sales left to do.
Anheuser-Busch’s Metal Container Corp. “harbors gold-plated assets that, in the hands of efficient operators, could offer significant synergies and upside over the ensuing 12-24 months,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Chris Manuel wrote on June 11. Manuel estimated that a sale of Metal Container could fetch a price between $1billion and $1.4 billion.
Who has the firepower to pull off a deal for part or all of Metal Container? The amount of debt carried by potential acquirers can be an important factor. Analyst Parrish Glover of Morningstar provides some numbers. Rexam has one of the tidiest balance sheets among big packaging companies, with a net debt-to-capital ratio of 55 percent. By comparision, Ball’s ratio is 65 percent and Crown Holdings‘ is 85 percent. The ratio measures a company’s indebtedness — the higher the number, the more assets are tied up in debt.
Where this leaves us, we’re not sure. But we will continue chasing the story.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
why is MCC so lucky?
Please please sell us or outsource us.