Brazil: Billionaire Marcel Telles hands stake in AB InBev to son as part of succession plannning

Marcel Telles, the billionaire Brazilian investor who cofounded buyout firm 3G Capital Inc., donated his stake in brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev SA to his son Max in a major step toward succession planning, Bloomberg reported on December 26.

Telles’ stake in AB InBev, which he helped build through a series of deals with his partners Jorge Paulo Lemann and Carlos Sicupira, is worth about $6.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He’ll transfer the entirety of the stake to Max, who will also replace him at the entity that controls the investment, according to a filing on December 26 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Telles, 73, is the youngest of the billionaire trio and the one who spent the most time working at brewers during their partnership that stretches back to the 1970s. He ran Brazil’s Brahma after it was acquired by their former investment bank Garantia in the late 1980s and then helped create Ambev in 1999. AB InBev, maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra, was formed in 2008 after mergers with Belgium’s Interbrew and Anheuser-Busch.

Telles’ net worth has gained 9% this year to $10.7 billion, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.

He has already transferred some of his other holdings to his children, donating shares held in Brazilian real estate firm Sao Carlos Empreendimentos e Participacoes SA to his sons Max and Christian in 2017. Lemann and Sicupira also transferred shares in that firm to their family members at the time.

The trio of Brazilian billionaires own their stake in AB InBev mostly through the entity BRC. It has a 50% stake in Stichting AK Netherlands which in turn owns 33.47% of AB InBev, according to the company’s website.

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