The Reyes Beer Division has made its third acquisition in California of 2020, reaching an agreement to acquire the assets of Richmond, California-based Bay Area Beverage Company.
Financial details of the deal, which is expected to close June 12, were not disclosed.
Bay Area Beverage will join Reyes’ Golden Brands subsidiary, adding another 8 million cases and 3,000 retail accounts to that business, which currently sells 27 million cases to 11,800 across Northern California.
“We are very pleased about this opportunity and are looking forward to a smooth transition and combining our team with theirs in this territory,” Reyes Beer Division West president Tom Reyes said in a press release.
Bay Area Beverage’s sales are concentrated in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, and its portfolio of brands includes products from Molson Coors, Heineken, Constellation Brands, Boston Beer Company, Mark Anthony Brands, New Belgium, Ballast Point, Duvel Moortgat, Guinness, 21st Amendment, Anchor and Green Flash. The company employs 200 workers, according to its website.
Last month, Reyes struck an agreement to acquire Sacramento-based Saccani Distributing. The deal, which is expected to close on May 15, will add 1.5 million cases to Reyes’ business.
Golden Brands formed in July 2019 after Reyes, the country’s largest beer wholesaler, acquired the assets of DBI Beverage Inc. in Northern California.
Golden Brands operates warehouses in nine cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Ceres, Truckee, Stockton, Chico, Fairfield and Ukiah. Combined, they account for more than 1,910 SKUs.
The Bay Area Beverage acquisition marks Reyes’ tenth deal in California since June 2018. In January, Reyes’ Crest Beverage subsidiary acquired Claypool Distributing in Imperial, California. Last December, Reyes’ Harbor Distributing subsidiary acquired Bakersfield, California-based W.A. Thompson, which has since been renamed High Desert Distributing.
California accounts for about 93 million cases of Reyes’ 217 million nationwide case volume. Reyes also operates in Illinois, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Though the company has been most active with acquisitions in California, its Premium Distributors of Virginia struck a deal to acquire Dixie Beverage Company in November.
Reyes Holdings, parent company of the Reyes Beer Division, is the ninth largest privately held company in the U.S. with nearly $30 billion in annual sales.
The announcement of Reyes’ latest California acquisition comes on the same day that the Hammond Beverage Group struck a deal to acquire Buck Distributing in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to Beer Business Daily. Buck Distributing was founded in 1946 and sells 3 million cases from 10 warehouses concentrated around Chesapeake Bay.
Buck’s president is Betty Buck, who owned the company with her family. Her daughter, Erin Murcia, will remain with the new ownership group following the transaction. The Hammond Beverage Group operates Ace Distributing in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, and W&L Sales in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.