Altria Group enters into $2.4B share buyback after closing InBev stock offering

Altria Group (MO) “announces that we entered accelerated share repurchase transactions under separate agreements with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC on March 15, 2024, to repurchase $2.4 billion of our common stock. Under the terms of the ASR agreements, on March 19, 2024, we received an initial share delivery of approximately 85% of the shares to be repurchased, based on the closing price per share of our common stock on March 15, 2024. 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. The ASR transactions are part of our expanded $3.4 billion share repurchase program, which we expect to complete by December 31, 2024. Share repurchases depend on marketplace conditions and other factors, and the program remains subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors. We also announce the closing of our sale of 35 million shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD) through a global secondary offering (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 $61.50 per ADS, corresponding to EUR 56.17 per ABI ordinary share. In addition, ABI repurchased $200 million of ordinary shares directly from us, 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 March 14, 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.”