Anheuser-Busch InBev, the newly formed beer group, showed its determination to quickly reduce more than $50bn in debt by launching a €6.36bn ($8.16bn) rights issue on Monday priced at a near 70 per cent discount to its share price.

The deep discount, described by beverage industry analysts as “off the scale” compared with previous issues in the sector, is aimed at ensuring the rights issue goes ahead in spite of volatile market conditions.