Voting for Molson shareholders has been postponed to 27 and 28 January, from 19 January.

Under the revised terms, holders of Molson shares will now receive C$5.44 a share, up from C$3.26.

Molson's chairman and largest shareholder, Eric Molson, will not receive dividend payments that would reportedly have amounted to about C$50 million.

The news followed SABMiller's announcement yesterday that it would attempt to hold talks with the Canadian brewer, if its shareholders blocked the proposed merger with American counterpart Coors.

Eric Molson remains adamant that the company "is not for sale". He controls over half of Molson's voting shares and therefore has an effective veto over any transaction.

Molson and Coors first announced in July that they wished to merge in order to create the world's fifth-largest brewer by volume.