Sixty years after it successfully blocked the invasion of the Germans, last December, the British government blocked the invasion of the Belgians. Indeed, Interbrew, the largest Belgian brewer (Stella, Hoegaarden, Leffe), which bought Bass Ale in July 2000 MUST sell Bass Ale again. With this purchase Interbrew became the largest beer brewer in Great Britain with 33 % of the market share, and that provoked the anti monopoly forces of the Empire to strike back.
The stock of Interbrew tumbled about 30 % the day of the announcement, and financial analysts believe Interbrew will lose over a half billion dollars on the sale of Bass. Independent journalists can’t believe that Interbrew forgot to insert suspending conditions in the purchase contract, because it was known before hand that the British government had to give its OK on the purchase. You see that even big brewers, with the help of expensive lawyers, and even more expensive investment bankers can make big mistakes.

These people will cash in again when they set up the new sale of Bass Ale. The losers? The small investor who bought Interbrew shares.
On the other hand, a market share of 33 % is not considered a treat to the industry and to the consumers in most other countries. Look at the USA where Anheuser-Bush has a 50 % market share. So there is some suspicion that the British had also some other reasons (pride?) to block the sale.
Newsletter February, 2001