Given how big the deal is, both parties would likely need to sell certain parts of their current operations to get past regulators that could mean sacrificing some Chinese or USA businesses.

Two giants of the global brewing industry, SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch InBev, may finally be bowing to the new realities of the business-including slow-growing traditional brands and gains by craft beers-and merging their brands and assets.

“SABMiller is worth a lot more to AB InBev than as an independent company”, Finnie said.

A takeover of SABMiller Plc by larger competitor Anheuser-Busch InBev NV would further distance the London-based company from its 19th century roots as a South African provider of beer to thirsty miners on the Johannesburg gold reef.

Separately, SABMiller said it “would review and respond as appropriate to any proposal which might be made”.

No offer has been made, but analysts estimate a price of 40 to 45 pounds per SAB share, which would be a 35 to 52 percent premium to the stock at the start of the week.

SABMiller announced stockholders should take no action on their shares for now.

InBev merges with Anheuser-Busch.

The UK-based SABMiller has revealed that the Stella Artois and Corona maker AB Inbev has told it it intends to make a takeover offer for the group, which produces Peroni and Grolsch.

“Media attention following disclosure of deal negotiations can be disruptive to the companies, and can kill an otherwise valuable deal” said John Coates, professor of law and economics at Harvard University, Bloomberg reported.

The FTSE 100 recovered to a one-week high on Wednesday, after SABMiller surged by about 20 percent, following the news that the world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, was planning to acquire the British Company. Experts believe the move would have strengthened its defences against a takeover bid by AB InBev.

AB InBev can trace its origins to a merger between a pair of Brazilian brewers in 1999.

Weakening economies in Brazil and China, two of the growth engines for brewersin recent years, may have hastened AB InBev’s approach, according to Colbert.

AB InBev has proved the most active player, with its aggressive cost-cutting and expansion bringing beers such as Budweiser to a global audience.