BEER giant Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser, is hiring two heavyweight investment banks to bolster its defences against a possible $46 billion (£23 billion) bid from larger rival, InBev, the world’s biggest brewer.

Anheuser, based in St Louis, Missouri, is thought to be taking advice from Goldman Sachs and Citi on how to fend off takeover interest from InBev, which owns brands including Stella Artois and Beck’s.

The board of Anheuser is expected to resist fiercely any attempt to acquire it. August Busch IV, Anheuser’s chief executive and great-great grandson of the company’s founder, recently told distributors in the US that the company would not be sold “on my watch”.

Last month, it was revealed that InBev, formed through the merger of Belgian brewer Inter-brew and Brazil’s AmBev, was trying to arrange financing for a takeover of Anheuser. Funding is likely to come from JP Morgan and Santander.

Anheuser shares have reacted strongly to the reports of bid interest and some investors may put pressure on the board to open talks with the European company. The two sides have held on-off informal discussions over the past year or so, and already have a commercial relationship; Anheuser is the US distributor for InBev.

The Belgian firm, headed by Brazilian Carlos Brito, has yet to put a formal proposal before the Anheuser board, and it is not yet clear when, or if, that will happen.

InBev has also been linked with a bid for SAB Miller, should its plans to acquire Anheuser come to nothing.

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