Altria Increases Buyback After $5.3 Billion Megabrew Payday
- Tobacco company will boost repurchase program to $3 billion
- Coca-Cola, meanwhile, will acquire Africa business in deal
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Altria Group Inc. is expanding its stock-buyback plan after the cigarette maker received $5.3 billion in pretax cash from this week’s completion of a massive beer-industry merger.
The tobacco company will increase its repurchase program to $3 billion from $1 billion, according to a statement on Tuesday. Altria, which had been the top shareholder in SABMiller Plc, got the windfall after Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired the fellow brewer in a roughly $103 billion deal.