The Canadian Mounties are leading an unlikely £4bn charge on SAB Miller’s central and eastern European beer brands.

PSP Investments, a Canadian pension fund manager that invests on behalf of the mounted police force, wants to swallow up a slew of beers being sold as part of the £79bn takeover of SAB by Belgian giant Anheuser-Busch InBev.

PSP’s interest comes as AB InBev and SAB look to offload assets to steer their deal past European competition watchdogs. Regulators are concerned that the combined company would own too much of the continent’s beer market.

The Belgians told the European Commission earlier this year that it would sell beers including the Czech lager Pilsner Urquell, which has a 40% share in its home market. Other brands for