InBev refused on Tuesday to raise its offer to buy US rival brewer Anheuser-Busch, leaving Anheuser’s shareholders to decide whether they are prepared to support its ramped-up cost-cutting programme rather than pressing for a deal against the background of a falling stock market.

Anheuser responded to InBev’s unsolicited $46bn bid last week with a decision to cut salaried jobs and benefits, raise beer prices and accelerate other components of an already-entrenched cost-cutting plan.