Shares in brewer SABMiller (LON:SAB) soared this morning, after it announced that it had accepted a takeover offer from rival AB InBev.

The deal has been on the table for some time, with SABMiller rejecting two previous offers on the grounds that they ‘undervalued the company’. However, the company has now ‘in principle’ accepted a bid from InBev of £44 a share.

A merger of the two firms would create the world’s largest brewer, making around a third of the world’s beer, and would rank in the top five mergers in corporate history. The agreed cash-and-share package is estimated to be worth £69 billion.

SABMiller shares are currently trading up 9.02 percent, at 3948 pence per share. (1022GMT)