By Ben Glickman


Altria Group plans to sell more $2 billion of its stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev as it looks to return more cash to shareholders.

Altria currently holds a stake of about 10% of the company, or 197 million shares. The secondary offering would sell 18% of that stake. The company said it would use proceeds the sale to buy back its own common stock.

The tobacco company said on Wednesday it planned to sell 35 million shares altogether in the global secondary offering. The underwriters will also have the option to purchase 5.25 million additional Anheuser-Busch shares. Altria's 35 million-share sale would be worth about $2.26 billion at Anheuser-Busch stock's Wednesday closing price of $64.55.

Anheuser-Busch agreed to buy back $200 million worth of ordinary shares directly from Altria, conditional on the completion of the offering.

Altria Chief Executive Billy Gifford said the company regularly reviews its investment in Anheuser-Busch.

"We believe this is an opportunistic transaction that realizes a portion of the substantial return on our long-term investment," Gifford said.

The share sale comes following a tumultuous year for Anheuser-Busch, which saw Bud Light lose its spot as top-selling beer in the U.S. by dollar amount to Modelo Especial. Anheuser-Busch's sales have yet to recover following a boycott last year, and the industry is grappling with a broader pullback of beer consumption by people in the U.S.

Altria said the global secondary offering would include a sale of American depositary shares of Anheuser-Busch, a public offering of the company's ordinary shares in the U.S., a private placement of Anheuser-Busch shares in the U.K. and Europe, and an offering of ordinary shares in other countries outside the U.S.

In February, Altria said its board had approved a new $1 billion stock-buyback program.

Altria gained a stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev after the brewer acquired SABMiller for about $100 billion in 2016. Altria received $5.3 billion in cash and a 9.6% stake in the combined company in exchange for its 27% stake in SABMiller.


Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-13-24 1751ET