(Leuven, Belgium) – Chances are that you’re not reading about this for the first time but we feel obligated to post something about it. News outlets began reporting on Sunday that InBev was close to acquiring Anheuser-Busch after upping the bidding price for the American beermaker last week. Yesterday, it became official: Anheuser-Busch will now be owned by InBev.

According to the press release, “the world’s leading global brewer. Anheuser-Busch shareholders will receive $70 per share in cash, for an aggregate equity value of $52 billion, in an industry-transforming transaction. The combined company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.”

The merger results in a truly massive company: “The combination of Anheuser-Busch and InBev will create the global leader in the beer industry and one of the world’s top five consumer products companies. On a pro-forma basis for 2007, the combined company would have generated global volumes of 460 million hectoliters, revenues of $36.4 billion (euro 26.6 billion) and EBITDA of $10.7 billion (euro 7.8 billion).”

Analysts believe that InBev, makers of brands such as Stella Artois and Becks, hopes to make Bud and Bud Light global brands. Asia is a key piece of the strategy: “Gaining control of an iconic beer brand — Budweiser — to sell into emerging markets such as China and Brazil was a key part of the deal, said InBev Chief Executive Carlos Brito, who will retain his position.”

Some are against the deal because of the perceived “loss of an American icon,” but, in reality, little should change with A-B’s major brands as a result of the deal.