Beer Marketer's Insights - More on RNDC; "Aligned" with Reyes on "Key Economic Terms"; Deal Expected to Close in Early-Mid Q2

RNDC ceo Marc Sachs sent note to employees yesterday morn that went somewhat further on upcoming deal with Reyes Bev Group than carefully worded RBG statement about "active discussions" for "potential transactions" in 7 states. "We have aligned with Reyes Beverage Group on key economic terms," wrote Marc, "for them to acquire" RNDC's operations in FL, HI, IL, MD, SC, VA and DC. Marc's letter appeared on a Reddit thread about RNDC. "This transaction is the result of a thoughtful and extensive process and will support our goal of strengthening the business for the long term," he continued. "While there are still a number of steps&hellip; to finalize the deal," he called this a "positive development." Marc added that "upon completion of the transaction, Reyes plans to run the newly acquired businesses separately from their current operations," as INSIGHTS originally reported. Those will literally be separate business units. Why? Two good reasons at least. Some of biggest questions Reyes faces about deal come from hi-end wine suppliers and also its beer suppliers. Wine suppliers would want to know how same RBG sales people could sell cases of mainstream beer and bottles of very expensive wine. Answer: two separate biz units. RBG will keep RNDC's Heritage and Fine Wine biz intact. And for beer suppliers, separate units could help alleviate their concerns that they would get less attention.Recall, separate units didn't happen in CA in the headlong onrush of RNDC's $2 bil biz there imploding as RBG and others got most of their best brands. And RBG already had spirits biz there since getting Sazerac in 2023. Influx of spirits brands last yr created some friction with some beer suppliers, INSIGHTS understands. RBG is working through that. Between CA and these 7 states, plus Brown-Forman in HI and Infinium in FL, RBG already building a really big spirits biz. But RNDC also lost Proximo brands, Brown-Forman in 20+ states, and many other brands, including one of few hot seltzers, Happy Dad, which left RNDC in 10 states and also aligned with RBG in 3. So while ceo Marc said as the RBG deal process unfolds "it is business as usual," what constitutes business-as-usual is rapidly evolving in what amounts to a very fluid situation. It's difficult to know scope and scale of RNDC's biz going forward. Are other potential transactions coming?

More on RNDC; "Aligned" with Reyes on "Key Economic Terms"; Deal Expected to Close in Early-Mid Q2

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