There is still some trouble brewing for Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $19 billion deal to buy Grupo Modelo, The Post has learned.
Regulators in the last few days have gone back to those objecting to the mega-deal to ask them to make their closing arguments, two sources said.
Those objecting to the deal interpreted the questions from the Justice Dept. as a sign regulators still had trouble approving the deal as structured.
“I think that’s encouraging,” one deal opponent said. “That means the approval is not a slam dunk like everyone seems to think.”
Based on the questions from the Justice Dept., sources said, regulators might ask Busch to divest some of its wholly owned US beer distributors so smaller brewers can more easily get their drinks to market.
Busch distributes roughly 10 percent of its US beer through 13 wholly owned distributors — including one that ships to The Bronx, Manhattan and Queens.
Busch works through independent distributors in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Critics of the merger believe it would give Busch too much pricing power. Busch’s Budweiser and other brands own approximately 47 percent of the US beer market. Modelo, with its Corona and 11 other brands, controls 6 percent.
Busch did not return calls for comment.