SABMiller plc

What did SABMiller own?

Before dissolution it owned more than 200 brands including Miller, Foster's, Peroni, Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell, Castle Lager, Carling Black Label, Tyskie, Aguila, and a stake in China's Snow, plus Coca-Cola bottling interests in Africa and Central America.

Is SABMiller publicly traded?

No. SABMiller was delisted from the London and Johannesburg exchanges when AB InBev acquired it in October 2016. The combined parent trades on Euronext Brussels and the NYSE.

Who founded SABMiller?

The lineage traces to Charles Glass, who founded Castle Brewery in Johannesburg in 1895, later renamed South African Breweries. SABMiller plc itself formed in 2002 when SAB acquired Miller Brewing from Philip Morris.

Where was SABMiller headquartered?

The company was headquartered in Woking, Surrey, England, on the outskirts of London, until the 2016 dissolution.

Who owns SABMiller now?

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV owns the former SABMiller business. South African Breweries continues as an AB InBev subsidiary in Johannesburg, and other former brands sit with Molson Coors, Asahi, and China Resources Beer.

How much did AB InBev pay for SABMiller?

The acquisition valued SABMiller at approximately £71 billion, about $107 billion at the October 2016 closing, making it one of the largest takeovers ever completed.

Charles Glass founded Castle Brewery in Johannesburg in 1895 to serve the gold rush population of the Witwatersrand. The company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1897, added a London listing in 1898, and renamed itself South African Breweries in 1955 after acquiring the rival Ohlsson's and Chandlers Union breweries. For most of the twentieth century it dominated South African beer while diversifying into soft drink bottling, hotels, and retail under apartheid-era restrictions.

International expansion began in the 1990s after apartheid ended. SAB bought breweries across Africa and Central Europe, then in 1999 shifted its primary listing to London through a new holding company, SAB plc. The transformational deal came in May 2002, when SAB acquired Miller Brewing from Philip Morris for about $5.6 billion in shares, creating SABMiller plc and making it the world's second-largest brewer.

The acquisition era continued at pace. In 2005 SABMiller bought Bavaria, Latin America's second-largest brewer, for $7.8 billion, gaining Aguila and a dominant Andean position. It consolidated Chinese operations through the CR Snow joint venture, whose Snow beer became the world's top-selling beer by volume. In 2008 it combined its US Miller business with Coors into the MillerCoors joint venture with Molson Coors. A 2011 acquisition added Australia's Foster's brewing operations to the portfolio.

The end came quickly. AB InBev approached SABMiller in September 2015 and agreed a takeover worth approximately £71 billion, about $107 billion, in a complex deal pairing cash with a partial-share alternative for major shareholders Altria and BevCo. After regulatory clearances across the United States, European Union, South Africa, and China, the acquisition closed on October 10, 2016. SABMiller shares were delisted, the name ceased corporate use, and the group was absorbed as a division of AB InBev SA/NV.

Before dissolution, SABMiller operated a well-regarded sustainability program, notably its "10 Priorities" framework covering water, enterprise development, and responsible drinking, and it published annual sustainable development reports that were frequently cited in industry assessments. Its Africa sourcing programs contracted with tens of thousands of smallholder farmers for cassava and sorghum brewing inputs, an early example of local procurement at scale. Since absorption, these programs continue inside AB InBev's Smart Agriculture and sustainability frameworks rather than under the SABMiller name.

The largest scrutiny came from the acquisition itself. Regulators in the United States, European Union, South Africa, and China each required divestitures before approving the deal, producing the MillerCoors, Asahi, and CR Snow sell-offs. In South Africa, minority shareholders publicly criticized the rand-value outcome after the pound fell following the Brexit vote, though the transaction proceeded as agreed.

Earlier controversies included press investigations into the group's tax structuring across African operations, which the company defended as lawful, and long-running debates over alcohol marketing practices in developing markets. These matters were settled through policy responses rather than legal penalties, and they transferred to AB InBev's responsibility after 2016.