UK court backs small shareholders in beer merger

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London • A British court has recommended that two classes of shareholders be created and vote separately on AB InBev's $104 billion takeover of SABMiller.

The move is seen as a concession to smaller shareholders who saw their return on the deal plummet after the pound fell after Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

SABMiller's board has accepted, in principle, to the deal that would create a company controlling nearly a third of the global beer market.

But Aberdeen Asset Management, among other smaller investors, demanded a say. Some 75 percent of the smaller shareholders must approve the deal for it to go forward.

Two big shareholders receiving a cash-and-stock option, U.S. tobacco company Altria and BevCo, an investment vehicle of the Santo Domingo family, have already approved.