Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, may bank a $600 million profit if InBev NV succeeds in its $46.3 billion takeover of Budweiser-maker Anheuser-Busch.
Buffett's company owned 35.56 million shares of the brewer as of March 31st. At the stock's March low of $45.68, the stake was worth about $100 million less than the $1.72 billion Mr Buffett paid.
InBev's $65 a share offering price would allow him to unload the investment for $2.31 billion.
Carlos Brito, chief executive officer of InBev, seeks to create the world's largest brewer by sales volume, adding Budweiser to the Leuven, Belgium-based company's Stella Artois, Bass and more than 200 other brands. Berkshire has owned its Anheuser shares for about three years.
"Here's the payout right up front after a very short incubation period as far as Berkshire is concerned," said Frank Betz, a partner at Carret Zane Capital Management, which oversees $800 million including Berkshire and Anheuser-Busch shares in Warren, New Jersey. "I think he would go along with this, especially at the premium."
Belgium's newspaper De Standaard reported that Mr Buffett had committed to support the takeover, without saying where it got the information.
Mr Buffett didn't respond to repeated requests for comment on InBev's offer, other than to say through his assistant Debbie Bosanek that InBev board member and fellow billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann is a "good friend".