Slay skeptical of InBev chief’s claims
Mayor Francis Slay — who has a brother and sister who work at Anheuser-Busch — spoke to InBev chief Carlos Brito today about his company’s hostile takeover attempt of the St. Louis brewing icon.
The mayor is the latest public official to hear from Brito, who earlier this week made the rounds on Capitol Hill, meeting with, among others, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and U.S. Rep. Todd Akin.
Slay said he was skeptical about Brito’s claims that, should the acquisition go through, the Belgium-based beer company would keep the combined firm’s North American headquarters on Pestalozzi Street and not close any U.S. brewing operations.
“The things he was saying were the things that, obviously, you want to hear,” Slay said in an interview this afternoon. “But what I told him was: How can I believe you? How do we know this is really going to happen?”
He cited the example of Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy’s, which purchased the previously St. Louis-based May Co. and its Famous-Barr chain.
“We were told that Federated was going to put Macy’s Midwest headquarters here in St. Louis,” Slay recalled. “They did do that. They put the headquarters here. Now, two years later, it’s gone.”
Brito told Slay that InBev would be sensitive to local issues, should the takeover bid go through.
“And, of course, I said I cannot support that, will not support it, have not supported it,” Slay said.
Listen to the whole interview below, done outside a glass store in Lafayette Square.
In the last 10-15 years St. Louis, has watched SWB leave STL, Ford close a plant, Nestle buy Ralston, TWA bought out and closed, Federated bought out May, has been swindled by the Rams/Cards for new stadiums, conned into believing BP Village would be built, the Kiel still closed, Public Schools in shambles, and crime and murder creeping up, what else am I missing folks.
Slay wasn’t mayor for all of the occurrences but he shares some responsibility. Pretty lame resume for the city and administration.