TheChek News Flow

If SABMiller's shareholders decide to sell up for the £36 a share the brewer is currently trading at, that would give a deal value of £58.3bn, or $90bn at current exchange rates. With net debt of around $11.5bn, the deal could value the target company at around $101bn, which would put it firmly in the top ten deals of all time by dollar value, according to data provided by Dealogic.

The major prize for AB InBev would be SABMiller's operations in Africa, one continent in the world where AB InBev's sprawling presence cannot be felt. Last year, SABMiller generated a third of its operating profit (Ebitda) from continuing operations in Africa and consumer companies are keen on the long-term potential the continent offers, as the middle class expands.

Analysts have previously suggested that AB InBev may also be motivated by the opportunity to suck up SABMiller's lucrative businesses in Latin America, however. Although AB InBev already has a strong presence in a number of countries on this continent - not least in Brazil - brewers enjoy near monopolies in several nations so AB InBev would be gaining additional territories through an acquisition of its rival. Latin America is SABMiller's single biggest market - accounting for 35 per cent of Ebitda from continuing operations last year - and it has a strong, market-leading presence in countries including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama.

SABMiller last year made an approach to its smaller rival, the Dutch brewer Heineken, which was rebuffed. This chess move was interpreted at the time as "poison pill" move to ward off a possible offer from AB InBev although sources close to SABMiller dismissed this theory at the time.

News of the transaction has emerged just a day before the US central bank meets to set interest rates, in what some economists expect will result in it raising benchmark borrowing costs for the first time since 2006.