Bolt-on acquisitions, such as the majority stake Molson bought last month in craft brewer Saint Archer, will remain on the table, CEO Mark Hunter said, even as the brewer works to pay down debt from the takeover, which is conditional on Anheuser-Busch InBev buying SABMiller.

Hunter said he expects Molson to maintain its investment grade rating, even as its leverage ratio swells to 5.1 or 5.2, as he expects, should Molson fund 75 percent of its purchase with debt. He said the company will work to delever as quickly as possible, though Molson intends to maintain its dividend per share.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller in London, editing by David Evans)