Anheuser-Busch had been a reluctant takeover target, spurning InBev's $46.3 billion takeover bid and fighting efforts by the Belgian-Brazilian brewer to oust the Anheuser board of directors.

The Wall Street Journal reported on its website that InBev, maker of Stella Artois and Beck's beer, had raised its bid by $5 to $70 a share in an effort to seal a friendly deal. The report cited a person familiar with the matter.

Anheuser's board is likely to accept the sweetened offer this weekend, the paper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The Journal said so-called social issues, including what the combined company would be called, still need to be worked out.

InBev and Anheuser-Busch declined to comment.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller and Jessica Hall, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)