The takeover for US$52 billion (S$78.5 billion), still subject to regulatory approval, was expected to be completed by the end of the year, InBev said in a statement. InBev shareholders had approved the combination on September 29.

'A closing date has not yet been announced, but both InBev and Anheuser-Busch continue to expect that they will complete the transaction by the end of the year,' InBev said of one of the biggest corporate takeovers ever.

While ending Anheuser's roughly 150 years of independence as a premier American brewer, the deal creates not only the world's largest beer company but one of the top five consumer goods groups in the world.

The new company will have net sales of about US$36 billion a year, offering consumers about 300 brands, including Anheuser's Budweiser and Bud Light, and InBev's Stella Artois and Beck's.

The bid for Anheuser-Busch had stirred fierce opposition in the company's home state of Missouri where Governor Matt Blunt has called the prospect of a foreign takeover 'deeply troubling'. But many US shareholders in Anheuser-Busch, including billionaire investor Warren Buffett, favoured the deal.

The shareholders meeting in Secaucus, New Jersey, approved the deal with more than two-thirds of owners favouring the deal.

The deal still awaits regulatory approval in China, Britain and the United States.

Agreeing to the deal 'was a very difficult decision for any board to make,' chief executive August Busch IV told some 150 shareholders at the meeting.

But Mr Busch said the tie-up fulfills 'the global ambitions of my family'.

'We are about to sell more beer, to more people, in more countries than any other company in the history of brewing beer,' he added.

In July, Anheuser-Busch filed suit to block the hostile takeover by InBev, claiming 'illegal' and 'deceptive' conduct by the firm. But the takeover was agreed after InBev raised its offer. -- AFP