USA, state New Mexico: Albuquerque-based Joe G. Maloof Company purchased the third-largest beer distributor in its home state, New Mexico Beverage Company, on July 7, the company reported. Terms were not disclosed. The buyer is one of several divisions of Maloof Companies, which also owns the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Monarchs professional basketball teams, and the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maloof Company officials wrote in a press release that the acquisition "significantly increases Joe. G. Maloof Company's market share in the state, and solidifies the company's continued investment in New Mexico." "The more volume you do in a store, the more valuable you are to a retailer," says Greg Brown, general manager of the Joe G. Maloof Company. "A lot of the brands we bought are doing very well in New Mexico and we want to take advantage of that."

The purchase of Albuquerque-based New Mexico Beverage Company adds about 25 brands to Maloof's product line, which includes the Miller, Heineken, Labatts, Dos Equis and other brands of alcoholic drinks. Non-alcoholic beverage brands added to Maloof product line include Arizona Ice Tea, Santa Fe Springs Sparkling Water and Blue Sky.

The merger makes the Joe G. Maloof Company the sole New Mexico distributor of Coors, Miller and 42 other beverage products, according to the press release. It also boosts Joe G. Maloof Company's annual distribution from 5 million to 9.4 million cases, or about 42 percent of the cases distributed in New Mexico. With the merger, Joe G. Maloof now employs 350 in New Mexico.

15 July, 2003