Anheuser-Busch and InBev have had plenty of chances to throw punches at each other over the past month. But restraint - which proved to be both sides' best negotiating tactic - produced a friendly deal more quickly than either company might have expected.

A week ago, InBev's unsolicited bid to take control of Anheuser threatened to get ugly. Anheuser had reached the final stages of a potential deal to buy the other half of its Mexican partner, Grupo Modelo, and had planned to announce the transaction after the July 4 holiday.