* CEO calls for immediate halt to contact with ABI, others -memo
* Shareholders say they are talking to SAB management
* Board to meet in due course to weigh offer (Adds quote from internal memo, shareholders' comments)
By Martinne Geller
LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - SABMiller has toldemployees to pause the integration of its operations with thoseof Anheuser-Busch InBev as the brewer's board weighsits sweetened takeover offer, two sources familiar with thematter said.
The pause is not an indication of the board's thinking, saidone of the sources, who declined to be identified as the matteris private.
Still, AB InBev's U.S.-listed shares fell 3 percent andshares of Molson Coors, which is set to take over SAB'sU.S. operations, fell 5 percent on concerns about the fate ofthe $100 billion-plus deal, one of the biggest in corporatehistory.
The world's top brewers agreed to merge late last year andfor months have been engaged in back-office preparations, thesources said, aimed at smoothing the combination that wasexpected to start in the second half of the year when the dealwas due to close.
The deal, however, has hit the rocks in recent weeks amidinvestor dissent over an offer made less attractive by a sharpfall in the pound following Britain's vote to leave the EuropeanUnion.
In an effort to calm a stream of investor complaints, ABInBev sweetened its offer on Tuesday.
That prompted SABMiller Chief Executive Alan Clark to callfor a pause in "convergence planning workstreams," according toa company memo published on Wednesday by the Financial Times'blog Alphaville.
"There should be no contact with AB InBev with immediateeffect, and all meetings and calls will be postponed untilfurther notice," the memo said, noting that it also applied tobrewers Molson Coors and Asahi, which are picking upassets that need to be divested in the deal, and all advisersand consultants.
"This is another big piece of news to take in and Iappreciate this will cause lots of internal and externalspeculation. However, please stay focused and I will keep youupdated as soon as I am able to," Clark added.
SAB officials declined to comment on the memo or the pausein integration, which was mentioned earlier on Wednesday bytrade publication Beer Business Daily.
Denver-based Molson Coors, which on Monday announcedleadership changes to take effect once the deal closes, alsodeclined to comment, as did AB InBev.
MIXED RECEPTION
AB InBev's new offer is worth around 79 billion pounds, upfrom a November deal worth about 70 billion pounds. The steepweakening of the pound versus the dollar had reduced the valueof that offer for U.S. investors, while a rise in AB InBevshares has increased the value of a special cash-and-sharealternative aimed at SAB's two largest shareholders.
The new offer, which is final, has met a mixed reception.
Top 10 shareholder Aberdeen Asset Management saidthe offer remained "unacceptable" as it undervalued the companyand continued to favour those two major shareholders, cigarettemaker Altria and Colombia's Santo Domingo family.
By contrast, New York-based hedge fund Twin CapitalManagement, also a shareholder, applauded the raised offer.
"I'm hopeful it gets done. It should get done," Twin's CEODavid Simon told Reuters, adding that he had conveyed thatmessage to SABMiller management.
South Africa's Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a topfive shareholder, told Reuters it was in talks with SAB over therevised offer, but declined to make its view public.
Following discussions with shareholders, SAB's board plansto meet to formally review the new offer.
($1 = 0.7603 pounds) (Reporting by Martinne Geller in London and Lauren Hirsch inNew York, editing by Susan Fenton and David Evans)
