Andrews Distributing to Acquire Price Distributing, Will Add 1.25 Million Cases

Another day, another middle tier deal.

Andrews Distributing Company of North Texas has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the assets of Price Distributing Company in Ennis, Texas, the company announced Thursday.

The transaction is expected to close today (December 16). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Andrews will add more than 1.25 million cases of beer, taking its case volume to more than 40 million cases annually across the 26 counties in north and south Texas where it operates.

Several brands included in the deal overlap, including Boston Beer, Constellation Brands, Diageo (Guinness), Gambrinus (Shiner), Heineken USA, Mark Anthony Brewing, Molson Coors, Pabst Brewing, and Phusion Projects, among others. Andrews’ portfolio also includes Yuengling, New Belgium, Bell’s Brewery, and Firestone Walker, among others.

“Combining our powerful portfolios and all-star teams will create even more value for our customers and beer lovers,” Andrews president and CEO Mike McGuire said in a press release. “We believe this multi-county market in North Texas has remarkable potential for growth as it adds 1.25 million cases from top brands to our overall operations.”

As part of the transaction, Andrews will take on Price’s distribution center in Ennis. The Ennis warehouse will become Andrews’ fifth, with distribution centers in Dallas, Allen, Fort Worth and Corpus Christi.

“The addition of Ennis as our fifth Texas hometown, joining Corpus Christi, Dallas, Allen, and Fort Worth, gives us the opportunity to build on the Price family’s legacy and welcome their committed team members to our growing business,” McGuire added.

Andrews’ workforce will expand to about 1,900 team members.

Price Distributing, which was founded by Maurice Price Jr. in 1981, serviced more than 400 retail accounts across 10 Texas counties (Collin, Hunt, Rockwall, Rains, Kaufman, Van Zandt, Johnson, Ellis, Navarro and Freestone). The business was family owned and operated, with Scott Price leading the company as president and CEO. In 1976, Barry Andrews founded Andrews Distributing, which is now operated by Mike and Natalie McGuire.

Andrews boasts 66% market share of high-end beer volume in Texas, and 22 of the top 30 beer brands by volume and seven of the top 10 on-premise brands in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, according to the distributor’s website.

News of the deal comes in the same week that Keg 1 acquired 5 million case outfit River City Distributing in Louisville, Kentucky.

For more on the state of M&A, watch the Brewbound Live conversation with Arlington Capital Advisors director Ryan Lake.