Anheuser-Busch pays $6M to settle India bribery accusations

LONDON-The $100 billion-plus megamerger of SABMiller PLC SAB and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI.BT) has cleared another hurdle after shareholders of the United Kingdom company voted in favor of the deal.

A total of 95 per cent of SABMilller shareholders approved the bid.

The deal is expected to be wrapped up on October 10th.

The regulator further alleges that AB InBev entered into a nondisclosure agreement with a former Crown employee containing language that prevented the employee from speaking to the SEC.

Marlboro cigarette-maker Altria and Colombia's tycoon Santo Domingo family favoured the deal while the powerful Aberdeen Asset Management said it was against the combination.

The approval of SABMiller shareholders was widely expected, but not a given.

The roughly $100 billion deal to create the world's largest brewer has cleared its final substantial hurdle.

AB InBev will retain its name, the Budweiser maker said in a statement Wednesday, after its shareholders approved the beer industry's biggest-ever acquisition at a meeting in Brussels.

The new combined company will control one third of the global beer market, the Associated Press reported. Criticism of the takeover offer grew after a steep fall in sterling following Britain's vote to leave the European Union made AB InBev's cash offer less appealing.

Some fans of SAB's beers didn't take the news well, particularly in South Africa, where the brewer's predecessor company began by selling beer to miners in 1895.

Since taking full ownership of its Indian operations, AB InBev said it has offered Foreign Corrupt Practices training to employees and improved its compliance practices.

While AB InBev produces Stella Artois, Corona, Leffe and Beck's, SABMiller boasts Peroni, Pilsner Urquell, and Grolsch among its stable of brands.

SABMiller has around 69,000 staff in more than 80 countries, from Australia, Zambia and Colombia to the Czech Republic, South Africa and the USA, also producing more than 200 beers.