1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

Yet another top beer supplier is stepping up to the plate and taking a swing at the red-hot RTD spirits segment. This time it's Mark Anthony Brands buying Finnish Long Drink in a deal at a total valuation of ~$325 mil, including multi-year earnouts based off global volume performance. So MAB is making good on its ambitions to get bigger in ready-to-drink spirits, as promised at co's distrib meeting last fall. Deal is expected to close in the coming weeks. With its unique gin base and Finnish provenance, Long Drink has been a standout growth brand in the US for several years running. It finished last yr ranked as the #9 ready-to-drink spirits brand in tracked off-premise NIQ scans, growing dollar sales 23% to $104 mil for rolling 52 wks thru Jan 3, 2026 across total US xAOC + Liquor + Convenience. Tho it lost slight (0.1) share within the fast-growing segment, landing at 3.1 share of spirits RTDs in tracked scans last yr. All-channel 2025 revenues were also around $100 mil, INSIGHTS understands, implying a potential revenue multiple of a little over 3X.Previous Partnership with MAB in Canada Provided Proof of Concept "Over the past 18 months our partnership with Mark Anthony in Canada has been a major success and has shown us what's possible at scale going through beer style distribution," the Long Drink founders wrote to investors (their emphasis). "We grew close to them and, late last year, conversations turned more serious about an acquisition. Together we built a deal we believe is mutually beneficial to propel the brand to a lasting household name."Widely Sold by Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Yet Long Drink is widely partnered with wine and spirits distribs. As of this time last year, it was with Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits in 34 states, plus regional powerhouse Martignetti in New England. Both cos bought into the AB network to become big beer distribs, and Long Drink is with beer houses in a number of other mkts. But if MAB looks to bring the product into its own network, as most acquirers do, the general lack of spirits franchise law protections could make for some interesting negotiations on the distribution front.MAB Letter to Distribs Highlights "Executional Excellence" and Long-Term Outlook "We look forward to partnering with distributors across the United States who share our ambition and commitment to long-term brand building and executional excellence," MAB president David Barnett stated in a letter to co's wholesaler network this morn sent by recently appointed ceo Phil Rosse. "Leveraging Mark Anthony's scale, executional strength, and deep experience building category-defining brands, we see the opportunity to elevate Long Drink's presence and influence within the spirits RTD category." MAB is "off to a fast start in 2026," Phil added, noting that "as we look to the future, we will continue to invest in our business and move with both pace and purpose to capitalize on new consumer opportunities to expand our RTD leadership position!"Back and Forth Deal Discussions Initial deal discussions date back a couple of yrs, at which time Long Drink got pretty far down the road with Mark Anthony Brands, INSIGHTS understands. Tho not long ago, it apparently got far along in discussions with Constellation. In the end, Long Drink struck a deal with MAB, teaming up with the #1 flavor co across alc bevs as it looks to build to the next level.Just 2% Awareness as of Last Yr Co-founder and ceo Evan Burns previously shared big goals for the brand with INSIGHTS, believing it has the "story," "sessionability" and "identity" to resonate with the masses. Yet even as it was available in over 45K stores as of last Apr and highly developed in certain mkts, it had just 2% brand awareness and was "pre that inflection point in the vast majority of the country." That suggests significant room to run under MAB's stewardship here in the US, not to mention its international aspirations.Brand Backstory; Celeb Investors and Others See Payday While the original Long Drink dates back to the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki (canned even back then and widely considered Finland's national drink to this day), this incarnation was intro'd in the US in 2018. From there it expanded across the country and attracted celebrity investors such as actor Miles Teller, DJ Kygo and pro golfer Rickie Fowler, as well as an investment from Jay Z's Marcy Project Ventures, among others. Ex Founders Brewing execs Mike Stevens, Brad Stevenson and John Green were also invested in the co since 2021.The brand is offered in a range of flavors with the majority coming from traditional (5.5% ABV), strong (8.5%) and zero sugar citrus, in addition to others such as cranberry, peach and pineapple. Along with his 3 Finnish co-founders, Evan and team were emboldened by the fact that there's "more per capita" consumption of Long Drinks in Finland than Guinness in Ireland.A Run of RTD DealsThis deal comes only a few weeks after Molson Coors made its move to acquire Atomic Brands (Monaco) and a few months after AB bought BeatBox. Each had long been rumored as an acquisition target. But the floodgates are now seemingly open wide. Might more deals be coming down the pike in this period of heightened M&A activity that also potentially includes Phusion and a much larger deal for Brown-Forman?

Mark Anthony Brands Buying Finnish Long Drink at ~$325 Mil Valuation

Publishing Info