Anheuser urges holders to revoke consent to InBev

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch (BUD.N) on Wednesday urged its shareholders to withhold consent to InBev INTB.BR, which is trying to replace Anheuser's board of directors with its own slate, and to revoke any consent already given.

Anheuser, the maker of Budweiser and Michelob beers, filed a consent revocation statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying its board "unanimously opposes" the InBev consent solicitation, in which the Belgian-Brazilian brewer is asking Anheuser shareholders to vote to remove the current 13-member board and replace it with members chosen by InBev.

InBev's action, which is being challenged by Anheuser in a Delaware Chancery Court and a federal court in Missouri, follows its rejection of InBev's $46.3 billion (23.4 billion pound) takeover offer to create the world's largest brewer.

"We believe that the InBev consent proposals are solely designed to enable InBev to take control of your board in order to facilitate InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch pursuant to a proposal that your board has determined is inadequate and not in the best interests of the company's stockholders," said Anheuser in its filing.

"We believe that the existing board -- which is predominantly composed of independent and disinterested directors -- is better able to evaluate what action is in the best interests of the company's stockholders, and better able to decide on a course of action that will protect and enhance stockholder value," it added.

Anheuser is asking shareholders to sign cards that would revoke their consent to InBev's proposals, regardless of whether they actually gave consent to InBev.

Officials for InBev were not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller, editing by Phil Berlowitz)