Report: Anheuser-Busch, Modelo Talk

Updated from 12:51 p.m. EDT

Anheuser-Busch(BUD Quote) is in talks with Mexico's Grupo Modelo about a possible merger, CNBC reported Thursday, a day after the Budweiser brewer said it would evaluate an unsolicited $65-a-share offer from InBev.

Anheuser-Busch itself has a 50% nonvoting stake in Grupo Modelo, maker of Corona.

Anheuser-Busch shares closed up $3.05, or 5.23%, to $61.40 in NYSE trading, and were down 44 cents after hours.

News of the Belgian brewing giant's $46 billion offer first surfaced last month.

InBev CEO Carlos Brito, in a video on the company's Web site, said his company is proposing "a culture of high performance and common sense and that is very strong," he said. "Especially in the U.S. this is a language that people understand very well."

Anheuser-Busch said in a short statement that its board of directors will evaluate the offer carefully. The board will "review the merits of the proposal consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its financial and legal advisers."

Once that's done, the company said it will "pursue the course of action that is in the best interests of Anheuser-Busch's stockholders." Anheuser-Busch didn't give a specific timetable for reaching a decision, but it said the board would make a determination regarding the InBev bid "in due course."

InBev, the world's largest brewer in terms of sales, sells such labels as Beck's, Bass, Stella Artois, Boddington's and St. Pauli Girl. InBev was created when the Belgian Interbrew and Brazilian AmBev merged in 2004.

Shares of InBev were up almost 9% Thursday in European trading.

The beer space has seen its fair share of consolidation in recent years, including the deal that created InBev. Molson Coors(TAP Quote), the product of a combination of Molson and Coors, was formed in 2005.

Holland's Heineken and Denmark's Carlsberg bought Scottish & Newcastle earlier this year. The Justice Department last week approved the merger of the U.S. operations of SABMiller and Molson Coors. Altria(MO Quote) owns a stake in SABMiller.

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