10 de junio de 2005.

LONDON (AFX) - InBev SA, the Belgian brewing giant whose brands include Becks and Stella Artois, is close to contracting out the management of its IT systems to US technology giant IBM and UK telecoms carrier BT Group PLC.

A source close to the negotiations told AFX News that the outsourcing deal would be worth around 800 mln eur to the two companies. The contract is due to be signed in the first week of July, said the source.

Chief executive John Brock told AFX News before a media briefing in London this morning that talks with potential outsourcing partners were ongoing, but declined to name which companies were in the running in the contract. However, he said a deal would 'be struck imminently.'

Under the terms of the deal, IBM is to take over the day-to-day running of InBev's computer hardware, leaving BT's IT and networking wing, Global Services, to provide the communication backbone for InBev's 140-country operation.

Although the finer details of the contract have yet to be finalised, the source said IBM would receive the 'lion's share' of the 800 mln eur.

InBev was created through last year's 16.5 bln eur merger of Belgium's Interbrew and Brazil's AmBev, and the outsourcing deal will go some way towards achieving the 280 mln eur of cost savings promised at the time.

Telecoms analysts told AFX News that the deal would be one of the largest pan-European deals for BT's fast-growing Global Services arm.

BT, facing growing competition and decreasing profits in its traditional voice business, has made three sizeable acquisitions to boost Global Services over the past year.