Worried about the price of beer going up? You can relax — the U.S. government has your back. Last week, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch InBev SA to prevent the company from purchasing Grupo Modelo, the makers of Corona, for fear that it would result in higher U.S. beer prices.

Budweiser

If the $20.1 billion deal between the largest and the third largest beer makers is inked, Anheuser-Busch would control 46 percent of the beer sales in the U.S. According to Adweek , the second largest beer company, MillerCoors, has 26 percent of the market share. Combined they control $57 billion of an $80 billion industry. The Department of Justice wants to block the merger and stop the industry from becoming further concentrated. Bill Baer, assistant attorney general in charge of DOJ's antitrust division, said in a statement, "This lawsuit seeks to prevent ABI from eliminating Modelo as an important competitive force in the beer industry."

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But Anheuser-Busch (ABI) isn't planning on backing down. "We intend to vigorously contest

Grupo Modelo

the DOJ's action in federal court," the company said in a statement. According to Adweek, the Department of Justice has internal company documents that exhibit ABI's interest in maintaining "its upward price leadership," and the New York Times said other documents show Modelo's strategy was "eating [Budweiser's] lunch." Specific efforts revealed that ABI targeted Corona, a competitor of Bud Light Lime, which would no longer be a threat following a merger.

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The New York Times reports that the mammoth ABI, which merged with InBev in 2008, has since announced more than 15 takeovers. Should the antitrust suit fail, Anheuser-Busch In Bev's merger with Modelo would give the company "overwhelming control" in California, Texas, and New York.

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