Despite the adverse publicity the brand has suffered over its short-lived Harbin Brewery tie-up, the Anglo-South African brewery exits with US$211 million in proceeds - money that it will reinvest to ensure that Harbin faces serious cost pressure in SABMiller's Northeast stronghold. By any measure, SABMiller has made a nice profit, and the financial community evidently agrees, if the company's rising share price (at press time) is any indication.
Instead, this battle points to the wider issues that arise when foreign players attempt to build viable joint-venture brands in China. SABMiller has built an impressive beer business in China by employing a very different model to its international peers, Anheuser-Busch included.
It has resisted the temptation to introduce its own brands, and has instead concentrated on improving domestic beers. Some of its foreign competitors are on their third foray into the China market, while SABMiller has quietly become the largest foreign beer player in the country. In the process, however, many believe that the brewery's key joint venture with China Resources - China Resources Brewery (CRB) - is becoming increasingly burdensome.
There are whispers that it has lost control over the JV, pointing to the price cuts implemented by CRB after Harbin attempted to raise prices, a response that infuriated Harbin senior management.
For local government to join the chorus of SABMiller's critics must also be a concern, and reflect the political sensitivities that must be taken into account when partnering with a high-profile national enterprise.
The prize at stake, of course, is huge and from a position of comparative strength, SABMiller now finds itself in a market where Anheuser-Busch controls two of the three potential national beer brands. Not that the US brewery does not have problems of its own. It has paid a huge premium for what could be termed a blocking manoeuvre and it must now convince its shareholders and the public that its strategy will reap dividends.
In addition, its Budweiser brand is becoming ever more mainstream, and limited production capabilities at its Wuhan facility are posing problems.
Still, as the smoke from this battle clears, and international beer brands continue their scramble to secure a piece of the world's largest beer market, they will find that prices have been re-rated north. The implications for consumer product MNCs in general are significant, particularly if this tussle marks the first of many to come.