July 14 (Bloomberg) -- InBev NV agreed to buy Anheuser- Busch Cos. in a $52 billion transaction that will make the Belgian company the top brewer in the world's five biggest beer markets.

The $70-a-share purchase announced today will give Leuven, Belgium-based InBev the biggest share in China, the U.S., Russia, Brazil and Germany, making it the world's largest brewer with the size to negotiate lower prices on everything from hops to electricity. InBev gains Anheuser's half share of the U.S. market, the industry's largest, as well as top-selling Bud Light and Budweiser.

``This is really the only vehicle for them to enter into the U.S.,'' Trevor Stirling, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in London, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``This seems to be a deal that's good for both sides.''

The combined company will exceed $36 billion in annual revenue, 85 percent more than InBev's 2007 sales. The transaction follows SABMiller Plc's agreement to combine its U.S. businesses with Molson Coors Brewing Co. as U.S. industry sales approach $100 billion, according to Euromonitor Plc.

InBev will surpass SABMiller as the world's top seller of alcoholic beverages with about 17 percent of the 174 billion- liter market after the purchase is completed later this year.

``This is about giving InBev a U.S. presence and this is the most effective way they can see to achieve that,'' said Grant Saligari, a beverage industry analyst at Commonwealth Securities Ltd. in Sydney. ``Consumers are very emotionally attached to their beers. A peaceful deal helps maintain that.''

InBev Chief Executive Officer Carlos Brito will become the combined company's CEO, and Anheuser-Busch CEO August A. Busch IV and another current or former director of the U.S. company will join the board.