SABMiller's reputation as an aggressive dealmaker was cemented on Monday with its recommended offer for Dutch beer brand Grolsch. But patience and persistence as much as aggression also played important parts in the acquisition.
As Grolsch's own marketing slogan - "We only let you drink it when it's ready" - suggests, it is a company that makes a virtue of not rushing its brewing process. So it is too with the pace of its deal-making.
The UK-listed brewer first looked at Grolsch about eight years ago and has also made approaches several times since.
It restarted discussions a few months ago. Now, after paying a somewhat pricey ratio of 15 times 2006 earnings - which is a higher ratio than the price recently offered to Scottish & Newcastle by Carlsberg and Heineken - it has finally won the brand.
SABMiller faced competition from another un-named bidder - speculation has focused on Anheuser Busch. But the price SABMiller paid - an 84 per cent premium to the Dutch brewer's share price over the past month - was too good for Grolsch to turn down.
So why does SABMiller want it so badly?
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Firstly, the historic Grolsch brand, with its distinctive flip-top bottles, is a valuable addition to SABMiller's small holdings of international premium brands, which include Pilsner Urquell, Peroni and Miller Genuine Draft.
Most of SABMiller's beer brands are regional, such as Castle in South Africa.
Malcolm Wyman, SABMiller's chief financial officer, said on Monday that it was important for the brewer to have a range of brands that would appeal to different consumers. He said that as a north European brand, Grolsch offered "a classic European taste" that was slightly more bitter than standard lagers, but not as bitter as Pilsner Urquell.
Secondly, the brewer also has a big hole in its South African portfolio after losing the rights to market and distribute the Amstel brand, owned by Heineken, in the country this year.
South Africa is the biggest regional contributor to SABMiller earnings, accounting for about 31 per cent, and Amstel used to contribute some 9 per cent of SABMiller's beer sales. Once it closes the acquisition, it plans to take Grolsch into South Africa, as well as into other international markets such as Latin America and Russia.
Grolsch is sold as an imported beer in western Europe and North America and has only a small presence in Asia and Latin America. In the UK, however, Grolsch is brewed locally under licence by Molson Coors.
The opportunities in the US, where the brand is marketed and distributed by Anheuser Busch, remain unclear. SABMiller said Anheuser Busch and Grolsch had a private contract it had not yet seen.
Ab Pasman, Grolsch's chief executive, on Monday claimed: "We'll be the only western European brand with heritage in [SABMiller's] portfolio."
Thirdly, Grolsch will provide SABMiller with additional brewing capacity. SABMiller has claimed that it cannot make enough beer in eastern Europe to keep up with demand and so is investing in expanding its brewing operations in Russia and Poland.
Grolsch has built a new brewery with a capacity of 3.2m hectolitres but is only using 2.3m hectolitres of that capacity.
SABMiller plans to use the additional capacity to brew some of its international brands, although it declined to specify which ones. It also plans to start importing some of its brands into the Netherlands, where none has widespread distribution.
Finally, SABMiller believes that it can learn from Grolsch's bottle designers.
The Dutch brewer introduced a new green bottle earlier this year with a crown cap and flat sides that has the Grolsch logo embedded in the glass.
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