Anheuser-Busch InBev Acquisitions of Craft Brewers

A Compass Lexecon team including Dennis Carlton, Bradley Reiff, Yoad Shefi and Peter Marlantes assisted Steven Sunshine and Steven Albertson of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, outside counsel for Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B), in seeking U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) approval of two separate acquisitions of craft beer brewers – Devils Backbone based in Virginia and Karbach based in Texas.

The DOJ scrutinized these acquisitions in light of a series of other A-B craft beer acquisitions and recent mergers with Modelo and SABMiller. The Compass Lexecon team, along with counsel, presented economic evidence to the DOJ showing that the transactions are unlikely to cause significant harm to competition. In both cases, the DOJ ultimately decided to close the investigations and allow the acquisitions.