NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA, USA - INBEV sweetened its takeover offer for Anheuser-Busch to US$50 billion (S$68 billion), finally luring the United States brewer into talks over a friendly deal, sources familiar with the situation said.

After a month of mounting tensions, Belgian-Brazilian InBev has offered US$70 per share for the maker of Budweiser, up from the US$65 per share, or US$46.3 billion, it proposed a month ago, sources said. They added that Anheuser's board could accept the new bid as soon as this weekend.

Yet they cautioned that the ultimate timing and price of any potential deal may change, since negotiations could break down at any time.

The new offer reflects a premium of 33 per cent over Anheuser's closing price on May 22, the day before media reports of takeover talks surfaced.

As it sweetened its offer, InBev also moved to quash concerns over its financing by launching a US$45 billion syndicated loan backing the proposed takeover, banking sources said on Friday.

The sources said the loan's pricing and fees were among the highest seen on an investment-grade acquisition loan, making this a 'must-do deal' for banks, which have been hurt as credit market turmoil has stymied the flow of deals.

The two brewers had grown increasingly contentious since Anheuser rejected the initial bid two weeks ago, with InBev seeking to replace Anheuser's board and Anheuser suing InBev for making 'false and misleading statements'.

Helping to push the two sides to the negotiating table are signs that some big investors in Anheuser, including second-largest shareholder Berkshire Hathaway, were leaning towards backing a deal with InBev, according to a report in The New York Times.

Analysts have said a seal of approval from billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway, would probably influence other shareholders.

Berkshire, which owns a 5 per cent stake in the brewer, did not return a call seeking comment, but Mr Buffett said on June 25 that he had yet to take a position on InBev's offer.

Some shareholders, including Mr Adolphus A. Busch IV, an uncle of Chief Executive August Busch IV, said they supported a takeover, even at US$65 a share.

Since InBev had a good chance of succeeding if it went directly to shareholders in a tender offer, Morningstar analyst Ann Gilpin said a takeover seemed inevitable.

'Either it was going to be hostile at US$65 or friendly at a higher price,' she said.