Geographical agreements kept the peace in the early years. But the business has grown more international, and in the 1990s Anheuser-Busch has tried buy its rival, or at least the trademark, from the Czech state. No sale. Anheuser-Busch still can’t sell its flagship brand in much of Europe, where Budvar’s Budweiser is a popular brew.
But here’s a new twist. Nomura, the Japanese investment bank, may soon sell a big stake in its Czech beer holdings–which include a brewery in Ceske Budejovice that has won court battles to call its product a Budweiser beer at home and in Germany. Anheuser-Busch won’t comment, but Czech analysts think it’s a likely partner for Nomura. Adolphus would drink to that.
