Shareholders in Anheuser-Busch have filed lawsuits seeking to force the American owner of Budweiser beer to consider fairly the $47 billion (£23.6 billion) takeover bid for the company from InBev, the Belgian brewer of Stella Artois.

Anheuser-Busch rejected InBev’s unsolicited bid on Friday on the basis that it was too low and it outlined an alternative plan to cut $1 billion in costs in an effort to boost its profits and appease investors.

In a suit filed with the Court of Chancery in Delaware, the shareholders said that Anheuser-Busch’s board had breached its fiduciary responsibility by failing properly to consider and respond to InBev’s offer.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, asks the court to prevent Anheuser-Busch directors “from entrenching themselves and causing the company to take unreasonable and disproportionate defensive measures”.

The filing also requests that the court move to prevent Anheuser-Busch from negotiating to acquire the half of Grupo Modelo, a Mexican brewer, that it does not already own, amid concerns that the deal would make the combined entity too large for InBev, or any other potential bidder, to buy.

The lawsuit was filed by Peter Brinckerhoff, a trustee representing shareholders owning 20,220 shares of Anheuser-Busch. Filed on June 27, it came two days after a similar filing by the Government Employees and Judiciary Retirement System Administration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which owns 18,525 shares in the company.

Also on June 27, InBev made the first hostile move against Anheuser-Busch when it threatened to try to launch a boardroom coup.

InBev said yesterday that it remained committed to its offer, which represents a 35 per cent premium to Anheuser-Busch’s share price before speculation of a takeover approach.

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