Anheuser-Busch InBev is considering selling some German beer brands as new CEO Michel Doukeris implements its BBeyond Beer strategy, The Beyond Beer portfolio, which includes Mike’s Hard and Michelob Ultra Seltzer, grew by 45% as of the company’s most recent earnings call and is expected to continue growing by that amount through 2024.
The portfolio could be worth as much as $1 billion.
“We continuously assess our options to optimize our business and drive growth,” a spokesperson said.
Many of the brands were inherited from Interbrew, which merged with Brazilian beermaker Ambev in 2004 to form InBev — the company that later combined with Anheuser-Busch. While Germany is Europe’s largest brewer, producing about a quarter of beers originating from the continent, it exports less of the drink than both the Netherlands and Belgium, according to European Commission figures.
The sale of the German brands could also help reduce the company’s debt, a result of its $100-billion-plus takeover of SABMiller. ABI’s shares are down almost 60% since its acquired SABMiller.