Budweiser wants to buy Miller - and the Brazilian private equity titan who bought Kraft, Heinz, and Burger King is behind the deal

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Jorge Lemann

Scott Olson/Getty

Jorge Lemann.

Budweiser maker AnheuserBusch InBev wants to buy Miller maker SABMiller, in what could be one of the top six corporate takeovers in history.

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And one Brazilian billionaire is behind it all.

Remember Jorge Lemann?

He's the head of private equity firm 3G Capital, which has done deals with Kraft, Heinz, and Burger King.

In 1999, Lemann and two partners created AmBev, a master company of all the brewers they had acquired.

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Then in 2004 Ambev bought Belgian brewer Interbrew to create InBev. Then InBev bought US-based Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion in 2008.

Now AnheuserBusch InBev is bidding for SAB Miller.

3G has interests that extend far beyond the beer industry. Lemann's firm also worked with Warren Buffett to orchestrate the Kraft-Heinz merger earlier this year.

His private-equity firm has since wasted little time in shaking up the upper ranks of the newly-combined company, and has a reputation for savage cost-cutting.

Now the fifth-largest food company in the world, Kraft Heinz is also a potential suitor to buy Mondelez International, which activist investor Bill Ackman has targetted. Ackman is an investor in 3G's funds.

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Not bad, Jorge. Here's more on the Brazilian billionaire's life and career.