InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian brewer behind Stella Artois and Beck's beers, this morning declared victory in its battle for control of Anheuser-Busch (AB) after its raised $52 billion (£26 billion) all cash offer for the Budweiser maker was recommended by the AB board.

In a crucial move, August Busch IV, the AB chief executive and descendant of the 156-year-old company's founder, withdrew his opposition to InBev's advances and gave his blessing to the improved offer in return for one of two seats for AB directors on the enlarged company's board.

InBev, which on Friday persuaded AB to the negotiating table after upping the ante from $65 a share to $70, said it would change its name to Anheuser-Busch InBev and focus its expansion efforts on turning Budweiser - the self-styled King of Beers - into a global brand.

It predicted annual cost synergies of at least $1.5 billion by 2011, despite confirming its promise not to close any of AB's 12 American breweries, and said it did not forecast "any significant regulatory issues".

Analysts predicted that InBev's strong position in Britain was likely to spell closure for the Budweiser Stag Brewery in Mortlake, southwest London.

InBev revealed this morning it had secured debt funding of $45 billion, including a bridging loan of $7 billion pending the sale of non-core assets. These are expected to include AB's theme park and packaging businesses.

Including the assumption of AB's debt of $9.1 billion, the offer is worth just over $60 billion.

The start of talks on Friday came after a month of increasingly antagonistic relations. AB rejected the opening $47 billion gambit as “financially inadequate”, prompting InBev to take legal steps to remove the American brewer's entire board of 13 directors.

AB responded last week by threatening to take legal action against its Belgian suitor, claiming it had launched its hostile bid based on “numerous false and misleading statements” about how the deal would be financed and how the company would be run after the acquisition.

Mr Busch had vowed to fend off InBev's attentions. However, analysts said that with the Busch family speaking for less than 4 per cent of the shares, Mr Busch could left himself open to legal action from other shareholders such as Warren Buffett, who speaks for 5 per cent of the shares.

InBev wants to acquire AB for its 48.5 per cent share of the American beer market, the world's largest in terms of profits. It will also help it to boost its presence in China, the largest beer market by volume.

InBev said the combined company would be one of the top five consumer products companies in the world, with global beer volumes of 460 million hectolitres, net sales of $36.4 billion and underlying earnings of $10.7 billion.

The two companies already work together in America under an agreement whereby the US brewer distributes some of its Belgian rival's brands, including Beck's, Bass and Stella Artois.

A question mark hangs over the future of AB's 50 per cent stake in Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewer behind the Corona brand. Analysts suggested that the sale of AB could trigger a change of control clause allowing Modelo certain rights.

The putative deal comes at a time of continuing consolidation among the big brewers. In January, Carlsberg and Heineken sealed a £10 billion-plus takeover of Scottish & Newcastle, which owns Kronenbourg and John Smith's brands. They have now carved the company up between them, with Heineken taking control of the British business, making it the UK's biggest brewer.

In America, SABMiller and Molson Coors have just completed a $10 billion merger of their respective US operations in a deal that creates $500 million of cost and operating synergies.

Analysts welcomed AB's move to end a potentially costly and drawn-out takeover battle. Rob Mann, at Collins Stewart, said: "It provides clarity, the synergy targets look significantly higher than the market had assumed, and the financial metrics, partly as a result of the enlarged synergy assumption, look compelling."

Shares of InBev rose by just over 3 per cent to €45.87 in early trading, but by lunchtime had retreated, trading 1.3 per cent lower at €43.91.

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