Shares in Anheuser Busch, the owner of Budweiser beer, today soared 7 per cent on renewed speculation that InBev has secured $50 billion of funding to launch a formal bid for the brewer.

It is thought that InBev, which owns Stella Artois lager, has lined up funding from JP Morgan, the Wall Street bank, and from Santander, the Spanish bank, to bid for Anheuser.

InBev, JP Morgan and Sullivan Cromwell, the US law firm believed to be advising the Belgian brewer, all declined to comment.

It is thought that an approach is not imminent, even though funding for the approach is believed to have been secured.

Such a deal would mark the most important deal since the bailout of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan earlier this year.

Wall Street experts also pointed out that a combination of the two brewers would make compelling business sense. While Anheuser Busch has some businesses in Latin America, the Bud Light owner derives the bulk of its revenues from North America. On the other hand, InBev is the biggest brewer in the UK and Continental Europe. Such a combined group would have little geographical overlap of businesses.

The two also share other synergies - InBev already has an agreement with Anheuser to distribute its brands - which include Beck's - across the US.

Jan Meijer, an analyst at Theodoor Gilissen in Amsterdam, said: “There is a clear takeover rationale and we’ve been waiting for this to happen. InBev has had some problems in the United States and if there was a takeover they would be able to rely on the network of Anheuser-Busch. It would fit in nicely with their exposure to emerging markets too.“

Competition is fierce in the global beer market with InBev overtaken as the world’s largest brewer by SAB Miller last year. Heineken and Carlsberg have also increased their size with their joint purchase of Scottish and Newcastle.

While rumours of a tie-up have been ongoing over the last eighteen months, the speculation re-emerged on reports which claimed that the decision to approach Anheuser had been discussed at an InBev board meeting on April 28, and also yesterday.

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