US wine and spirits giants form joint venture

Written by Claire Weekes

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

Two of the US's leading wine and spirits manufacturers have announced a joint venture that will control 80% of the country's wine and spirits volume across 38 states.

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, the country's largest distributor of wines and spirits, is teaming up with Glazer's Distributors, one of the country's largest wholesale distributors, to create the largest distributor of wine and spirits in the US.

The two companies will continue to operate separately but will seek to create "synergies" as a result of the deal, said Southern Wine & Spirits in a company statement.

Wayne Chaplin, president and chief operating officer of Southern Wine & Spirits of America, said: "The combination of the resources of our two great companies will bring greater scale and synergies to the marketplaces we serve and, therefore, allow us to be better partners to both our suppliers and our retailer customers.

"Given the highly competitive landscape at the distributor level and the ever more consolidated marketplace at the supplier tier, we believe the time is right for a more National-type distribution footprint. We are confident that greater value will be created by simplifying the way to market for suppliers, creating lower go-to-market costs via our new arrangement, and improving our National on- and off-premise account penetration."

The joint venture will not include the states of Illinois and Arizona, or Glazer’s malt beverage business.