Reyes Creates Distribution Giant With Acquisition Of Florida’s Gold Coast
November 4, 2014Reyes Beverage Group, already the U.S. market’s largest privately held beer wholesaler, is poised for new expansion with its pending acquisition of Gold Coast Beverage Distributors, the biggest beer house in Florida. The deal, announced yesterday by Rosemont, Illinois-based Reyes, is expected to close in January and will bring Reyes Beverage’s annual volume to about 150 million cases—a figure rivaling that of Anheuser-Busch’s own U.S. distribution network. Financial details weren’t disclosed.
Gold Coast, owned by the Levin family, represents MillerCoors, Constellation Brands’ beer division, Heineken USA, Diageo-Guinness USA, Pabst Brewing and numerous craft breweries. The company distributes more than 27 million cases of beer in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. Following completion of the deal, the Florida distributorship will continue to operate under the Gold Coast banner.
Reyes Beverage, which has total annual revenue of more than $2 billion, was already present in Florida with Orlando-based Florida Distributing Co. The company’s other operations are in California, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. Reyes has been on the acquisition trail this year, having already acquired new beer operations in California (Allied Beverages) and Virginia (Kozak Beverages).
Parent company Reyes Holdings is the 11th largest privately held company in the United States, according to Forbes magazine, with annual sales in excess of $22 billion. It’s one of the leading global providers of food and beverage distribution services, with operations in North, Central and South America, as well as Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. In addition to Reyes Beverage, subsidiaries include the Martin-Brower Co., the largest supplier of distribution services worldwide to McDonald’s restaurants. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola Co. announced Reyes Holdings would become an exclusive bottler and distributor for its products in the Chicago market.
The Gold Coast acquisition is the second major beer distribution deal this fall, as wholesaler consolidation continues. New York’s Manhattan Beer Distributors and Windmill Distributing (Phoenix Beverages\Beehive Beer Distributors) are in the midst of finalizing a merger agreement.
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