Altria has announced that it entered accelerated share repurchase (ASR) transactions under separate agreements with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC to repurchase USD 2.4 billion of its common stock.
Under the terms of the ASR agreements, on 19 March, Altria received an initial share delivery of approximately 85 per cent of the shares to be repurchased, based on the closing price per share of its common stock on 15 March. “We expect the remainder of the shares to be delivered no later than the end of the second quarter of 2024. Under certain circumstances specified in the ASR agreements, we may be required to deliver shares or pay cash, at our option, upon settlement of the ASR agreements. The total number of shares ultimately purchased under the ASR agreements will depend upon final settlement and will be based on volume-weighted average prices of our common stock during the terms of the ASR transactions, less a discount,” Altria said in a statement. The ASR transactions are part of Altria’s expanded USD 3.4 billion share repurchase program, which Altria expects to complete by 31December. Share repurchases depend on marketplace conditions and other factors, and the program remains subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors.
Altria further announces the closing of its sale of 35 million shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD) through a global secondary offering comprised of a public offering of ABI ordinary shares represented by American depositary shares (ADS) in the United States, a public offering of ABI ordinary shares in the United States, a concurrent private placement of ABI ordinary shares in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom and an offering of ABI ordinary shares, including ABI ordinary shares represented by ADSs, in other countries outside the United States, at a price of USD 61.50 per ADS, corresponding to EUR 56.17 per ABI ordinary share. In addition, ABI repurchased USD 200 million of ordinary shares directly from Altria, concurrently with the completion of the offering. ”We granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 5.25 million of our ABI shares at the price per ADS paid by the underwriters in the offering, exercisable within 30 days of the underwriting agreement, executed on 14 March 2024. In conjunction with the offering, we committed to a 180-day lockup from the date of the underwriting agreement with the lead underwriter for our remaining ABI shares.”