Corporate Law Blog

Anheuser-Busch to sell distributorship in compliance with Kentucky law

The business world and the legal world intersect at many different points, and it is important for business owners to not only keep track of their legal obligations, but also to pay attention to how changes in the law impact their business. This is especially the case when laws directly impact a business’ bottom line.

An example of this is a relatively new Kentucky law which ended up forcing Anheuser-Busch In Bev to sell its Louisville-based distributorship. Anheuser-Busch has been in Louisville since 1978 and has a fairly significant share of the market in the areas where its distributorship delivered beer. Busch will reportedly be selling the distributorship, which employer roughly 170 employees, to a Texas distributor in exchange for that company’s operations in several other locations. Essentially, then, the companies are exchanging territories. The deal is set to wrap up in October.

The law which made the sale necessary prevents brewers from owning distributorships anywhere in the state. The measure is part of the state’s regulatory scheme for alcohol beverages, which keeps manufacturers, distributors and retailers separate. One consequence of the scheme is that local brewers are now not at quite as much of a disadvantage.

Whenever a business sale takes place, for whatever reason, it is important to have solid guidance on the legal, financial, tax and other aspects of the process. When companies don’t have good guidance on such matters, owners and stakeholders can end up losing money, taking on unnecessary liabilities and dealing with problems they could just as well avoid with some careful planning.