No Tie-Up

This is an interesting development in the wine and spirits industry, as we may be seeing a bit of turnaround in how large organizations view merging. My belief is that smaller companies have a lot of positives right now, and this could have made things very tough on both the retailer and supplier had it happened.


Southern Wine & Spirits and Glazer's Terminate Strategic Talks
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
MIAMI — Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. and Glazer's Distributors have terminated their discussion for a strategic collaboration. Glazer's Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Bennett Glazer said, "Following more than a year of wide-ranging planning efforts with Southern Wine & Spirits, we have made the decision that it is in our company's long-term best interests to end these meetings and discussions. Since August 2008, we have explored numerous options and concepts about how best to forge an association with Southern to generate enhanced value for both companies. However, our decision today has been driven by the sheer complexity of the transaction." Glazer added, "We value our personal relationships with the Chaplin Family, hold their management team in high esteem and wish them well in their future endeavors." Southern Wine & Spirits Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Harvey R. Chaplin added, "Today's decision was a very difficult one. We continue to hold the Glazer's Family -- and all that their company has accomplished over the last 100 years -- in high regard." Glazer's President Jerry Cargill said, "Today's announcement in no way impacts Glazer's long-term strategy of being recognized as the industry leader in the distributor tier for brand building and customer service. Glazer's will continue to proactively pursue its blueprint for sustained expansion and growth. We look forward to energizing and growing our relationships with both our suppliers and our customers, and we will continue building on the Glazer's teams' best-in-class capabilities." Southern Wine & Spirits President & Chief Operating Officer Wayne E. Chaplin said, "While today's announcement is a disappointment to us all, Southern will continue to seek opportunities to grow and expand our business as we strive to exceed our trading partners' expectations. We remain committed to providing unsurpassed brand-building, sales and service value to both suppliers and customers alike across our industry-leading 29-state footprint."