Business Maverick: AB InBev’s Asia Unit Opens Higher Despite Gloomy IPO Market

Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Ltd. raised $5 billion selling shares at the bottom of a price range last week, in the world’s second-biggest IPO this year behind Uber Technologies Inc. That gave the Asian unit an enterprise value of $45 billion, helping the parent company reduce its massive debt load and laying the groundwork for possible future acquisitions.

The shares rose to as much as HK$27.60 in Hong Kong, up from the offering price of HK$27. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was down as much as 0.7%. The result provides an encouraging conclusion to what’s been a rocky IPO path for the Asia arm of the world’s biggest beer company. Budweiser Brewing originally expected to storm into Hong Kong as a $64 billion company, but the deal wasin July amid lackluster demand. It was a high-profile setback that highlighted the growing disconnect between companies’ lofty private valuations and investors’ expectations, with would-be buyers skeptical of even well-known brands.

AB InBev revived the offering after selling its Australian operations to Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. for about $11 billion. That roughly halved the size of the Asia-Pacific offering, giving investors a more focused stake in faster-growing parts of the regional business, with brands like Cass in South Korea and Harbin in China.scene unsettled this year by volatile markets and geopolitical uncertainties.

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