SABMiller shareholder Kulczyk Investments offloads 1.5 per cent stake in drinks giant
Polish firm Kulczyk Investments has offloaded half of its three per cent stake in SABMiller for £1bn.
Kulczyk placed 24m SABMiller shares, around 1.5 per cent of the company, through Credit Suisse Securities, at a price of 4,180p per share. It will not be able to sell any more SAB shares for at least 90 days.
The investment company put the shares up for sale through an accelerated bookbuild, Credit Suisse said on Monday.
"The intended partial disposal of SABMiller shares by Kulczyk is being launched at this time due to Kulczyk's desire to progress the implementation of the next stage of its international strategy, which is aimed at increasing risk diversification and rebalancing of the Group's portfolio of holdings," Credit Suisse said in a statement.
Kulczyk, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, is operated by the heirs of Poland's former richest man Jan Kulczyk, who died in 2015, Sebastian and Dominika Kulczyk. The funds raised from the sale will be put towards new business partnerships.
SABMiller posted healthy organic sales growth in the fourth quarter and throughout 2015, according to a trading statement released last week.
Megabrew deal
The share sale comes as the world's largest brewer, AB InBev, is trying to close a deal on its acquisition of SABMiller, which was agreed last October for £71bn.
To try to pave the way for the so-called megabrew deal AB InBev embarked on a jumbo euro bond deal in mid-March. It offered a six-tranche, euro-dominated deal with maturities ranging from four to 20 years in length at a minimum of $1bn each in size.
The Stella Artois maker also raised its dividend on the back of missed expectations in its fourth quarter results, where revenues were up seven per cent.