DealZone

By Richard Cowan

Swallowing the popular American brew Budweiser in a $46.3 billion takeover is just business for Belgium’s InBev. But InBev CEO Carlos Brito found himself sipping a bottle of Bud Lite on Tuesday when he met with a Missouri senator who opposes the deal.

en. Claire McCaskill pointedly served Brito and his aides a selection of Budweiser, Bud Lite and Bud Select when they met in McCaskill’s office on Tuesday.

“I offered everyone a Budweiser. They all politely took a Bud Lite,” the first-term senator told reporters after a frosty, 45-minute meeting. “I think I’m the only one who almost finished mine.”

Also attending the meeting were Sabine Chalmers, an InBev lawyer, and lobbyist Sean Richardson, according to one of the senator’s aides. The InBev executives tried to woo McCaskill’s support for the deal to buy St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch by promising to respect and maintain the longtime Budweiser brand.

That wasn’t enough to get McCaskill hopped up on the deal’s prospects.

“Anheuser-Busch is a company that we feel connected to … as Americans,” McCaskill said. “It’s an iconic company that symbolizes something about our country that’s important to us and that a premium profit for hedge fund investors is not something that I find terribly compelling at this point.”

On Wednesday, InBev executives may get another taste of Bud when they meet with Missouri’s other senator, Republican Christopher Bond, who also opposes the merger.