The $70.75-a-share cash deal, subject to 75 percent shareholder approval, values Grolsch at 84 percent more than the company's average closing share price over the past month and 79 percent more than its last closing price, they said.

Grolsch said in a statement its management and boards unanimously supported the offer.

The 392-year-old Grolsch brand -- the Netherlands' second largest brewer after Heineken -- will become one of the pillars of the SABMiller portfolio, the companies said.

SABMiller said it saw "significant additional potential for the Grolsch brand across Africa and Latin America, where the premium segment is still in its infancy, and in the more developed markets of central and Eastern Europe."

Grolsch's annual sales top $440 million.

SABMiller predecessor South African Breweries was founded in South Africa in 1895. It merged with No. 2 U.S. brewer Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee in 2002.

Grolsch closed up 75.65 percent or $29.83 to approach SABMiller's bid price at $69.25 on the Euronext N.V. exchange. SABMiller shares fell 2.83 percent or 78 cents to close at $26.74 on the London Stock Exchange.