Ambev, formally Companhia de Bebidas das Américas and Companhia Brasileira de Bebidas, is a Brazilian brewing company now merged into Anheuser-Busch InBev. Its name translates to "Americas' Beverage Company", hence the "Ambev" abbreviation. It was created on July 1, 1999, with the merger of two breweries, Brahma and Antarctica. The merger was approved by the board of directors of the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) on March 30, 2000. The organization's headquarters are in São Paulo, Brazil. It is one of the largest companies by market capitalization in Brazil and in the Southern hemisphere.
Overview
Ambev operates in 18 countries in the Americas[2] and its products include beers such as Antarctica, Bogotá Beer Company, Brahma, Bohemia, Stella Artois and soft drinks like Guaraná Antarctica, Soda Antarctica, Sukita and the innovations H2OH! and Guarah. The second largest PepsiCo bottler outside the United States, it sells and distributes PepsiCo products in Brazil and other Latin American countries, includes Pepsi, Lipton Ice Tea and Gatorade by franchise agreement. According to an analyst at "Share Market Updates" in October 2016, the company operated through Latin America North, Latin America South, and Canada segments.
In 2004, Ambev merged with Belgian company Interbrew to form InBev. In 2008, InBev acquired the American company Anheuser-Busch to form Anheuser-Busch InBev.[5] Ambev S.A. is currently a subsidiary of Interbrew International B.V., which is in turn a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.[6]