Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Anheuser-Busch Cos., the world's largest brewer, rose the most since April after the London-based Times newspaper reported the company may receive a $56-a-share bid from billionaire investor Edward Lampert's ESL Investments Inc.

An offer from ESL would value Anheuser-Busch at about $44 billion, according to the online edition of the newspaper's ``Rumour of the Day'' column. Anheuser-Busch doesn't confirm, deny or speculate on rumors of potential transactions, spokeswoman Kelli Powers said in an e-mail. A call to Greenwich, Connecticut-based ESL was referred to the Brunswick Group's Steve Lipin, who didn't immediately return a message.

Shares of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch rose $1.36, or 2.9 percent, to $48.35 at 1:27 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after trading as high as $48.79. The stock has gained 13 percent this year, after falling 15 percent in 2005 and 3.7 percent in 2004.

Lampert is chairman of Sears Holdings Corp., the largest U.S. department-store company. Last year, Lampert arranged Kmart Holding Corp.'s purchase of Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Volume in Anheuser-Busch call options, contracts giving a holder the right to buy a stock at a certain price, soared to 53,580, the most in at least 10 years, according to Bloomberg data. Call options are a bet that a company's shares will rise. Anheuser-Busch call-option daily volume in the year before today averaged 2,173 contracts.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Burritt in Greensboro, North Carolina at (1) cburritt@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 10, 2006 13:31 EDT