--FILE--qu'un client achète une bouteille de bière Harbin du Groupe Anheuser-Busch InBev dans un supermarché dans la ville de Xuchang, province du Henan en Chine centrale, 2 Marc
--FILE--A customer buys a bottle of Harbin beer of Anheuser-Busch InBev Group at a supermarket in Xuchang city, central China's Henan province, 2 March 2013. If Anheuser-Busch InBev can swallow $90 billion rival SABMiller, complete with its 49 percent stake in Chinese market leader CR Snow, others in the Middle Kingdom may seek tie-ups. Alternatively Snow's other owner, China Resources Enterprise, might take full control and mop up smaller brewers itself. Adding Snow to AB InBev's collection of beer brands would boost it greatly in China. Susquehanna analyst Pablo Zuanic calls China's best-selling brew the "most strategic part" of the proposed AB-SAB union. The Budweiser producer's local tipples include Sedrin and Harbin, a favourite in the chilly north-east. The deal-machine has already set its sights on being No. 1 in Asia, which means it must win in China. Uniting would mean a huge leap in market concentration ¨C Snow has 23 percent of the market by volume last year to AB InBev's 14 percent, CRE says. The combination could cause others, like second-placed Tsingtao and fourth-ranked Beijing Yanjing, to consider mergers. The two companies are worth about $6.4 billion and $3.3 billion respectively, based on Sept. 16's closing share prices.
