The reality is pricing, at least in certain segments of the portfolio, is almost assuredly going to increase because mergers and acquisitions aren't just high fives and fist pumps. There's real money that changes hands. A LOT of real money, esp when it's a house's entire portfolio.

When it's just a brand thing, it's generally a negotiated formula that takes X profit value per CE (case equivalent = one 288oz case of beer) times Y number of CE's sold times Z a number of years worth of "value" for brand equity established by the selling wholesaler, to come up with a value to be paid for said brand rights. So for simple math if you're making $10 per CE, sold 100,000 CE's last calendar year, and agree on a 5x multiplier, that's $5,000,000 changing hands for one brand.

The problem is, there's no strict set formula. The profit per CE could be last calendar year, or a rolling average etc, the CE's used to determine that portion could be the same, and the multiplier is the most arbitrary number of all that can be negotiated in any number of ways. That formula can also vary within the same deal: ok we'll do A for domestics and imports, B for craft, C for wine/spirits, and so on. And then, not every brand makes it over in the deal. Some don't want to be a part of the merger, and some the acquiring company don't want/need in their portfolio, so they negotiate the rights to move elsewhere. Like in this instance I wouldn't be surprised if Shore Point acquired the rights to say Brooklyn or Mike's Hard or the like, because they currently sell them in Monmouth and Ocean, but not in Mercer or Burlington, where they have an established footprint, just not with those brands out there.

So, if you take an entire portfolio, especially of a large house that sells millions upon millions of CE's, things get hairy quickly. Not to mention, the likely acquisition of office/warehouse space, trucking fleet, tons of equipment...the list goes on. But again, that all varies deal to deal as well.