BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday that it had approved Anheuser-Busch InBev's (>> Anheuser-Busch Interbrew) takeover of SABMiller (>> SABMiller plc), conditional on Anheuser-Busch fulfilling an earlier agreement to sell SABMiller's stake in a China beer venture.

China Resources Beer agreed in March to buy SABMiller's stake in their CR Snow venture for a less-than-expected $1.6 billion (£1.2 billion), removing a regulatory obstacle to the London-based brewer's takeover by Anheuser-Busch.

The ministry said that SABMiller had pledged to support Anheuser-Busch in the sale of the Chinese venture.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Winni Zhou; editing by Adrian Croft)

Stocks treated in this article : Anheuser-Busch Interbrew, SABMiller plc