As widely rumoured over the past few days, Dutch brewing company Grolsch has been put up for sale in an effort to win Brussels approval for a merger between the world’s two biggest beer groups.

AB Inbev has agreed to sell Grolsch and Peroni so it can keep its own top names, including Stella Artois.

The sale is conditional upon completion of the AB Inbev acquisition of SABMiller and would be subject to ‘appropriate engagement with stakeholders, including employee representative bodies such as unions and works councils’, SABMiller said in a statement.

‘Until the change of control, we will continue to invest in growing these great beers and supporting our talented people who brew, sell and manage them,’ Alan Clark, chief executive of SABMiller, said.

AB Inbev struck a deal to take over Grolsch owner SABMiller earlier in November for around €60 a share, a 50% premium on the closing price on September 14.

British-South African brewing group SABMiller bought Grolsch for €816m at the end of 2007. City sources told the Sunday Times at the weekend potential buyers could include Dutch giant Heineken, Molson Coors and C&C. Heineken has declined to comment.