AB InBev invests $1.5bn in US

Brewing colossus Anheuser-Busch InBev has announced plans to invest over US$1 billion in its US operations between now and 2018.

The Budweiser producer announced on Tuesday this week that it was increasing its investment in its US brewing, agriculture, packaging and distribution operations.

As reported by the Standard Times, having bought four US craft breweries in recent years, including Washington State’s Elysian brewery this January, AB InBev runs 16 breweries in the US, 17 distributorships and 23 agricultural and packaging facilities.

The brewer plans to invest $850 million on expanding its brewery and packaging businesses, $220m on “product innovation” and $720m on efficiency enhancements at existing facilities.

Of the funds, $162m has been earmarked for AB InBev’s largest brewery in St Louis, home of its US business. A further $12m will go towards changing the brewery’s power source from coal to natural gas.

The latest round of investment comes after another $1bn investment in the US between 2011 and 2014, which saw the introduction of aluminium bottles and the $150m expansion of its Metal Container Corp outside St Louis that makes them.