Mitchell Distributing of Meridian has completed the purchase of Rex Distributing, the Anheuser-Busch distributor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Mitchell Distributing, a 70 year beer distributor, distributes brands such as Anheuser Busch, Modello and Mike’s Hard Lemonade and various local and regional craft beers. Mitchell is headquartered in Meridian and has operations in Meridian, Shannon and Leland, Miss. and Baltimore, Md. 

Rex distributes to Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties and the cities of Picayune, Poplarville and Lucedale in Miss. In addition to distributing Anheuser-Busch and craft brands, Rex also distributes non-alcoholic products, wine, energy drinks and water.

With the acquisition, Mitchell will serve 37 counties in Mississippi. The completion of the deal was announced by Mitchell on Friday.

“This is an example of the type of growth that our company is looking for,” Mitchell Distributing President Adam Mitchell said in a statement. “It’s an incredible opportunity to expand our companies into a great part of the state. We are grateful for our best in class team that gives us the ability to continue to grow and take on new challenges. We’re excited to leverage the skills of the personnel that we have in place, as well as add to the talent of our team with the strong personnel at Rex Distributing Company.”

The Mitchell team has had close relationships with senior management at Rex Distributing for a long time and these factors will make for a smooth transition, the company said in a news release.

The expansion is the third for Mitchell Distributing since April of 2014 when it expanded to Baltimore. Mitchell last year purchased the assets of Delta Distributing in Greenwood, which united their Delta territory with the rest of the Mitchell Distributing territory. In 2008, Mitchell acquired Cash Distributing in Columbus and Tupelo. 

“These acquisitions are possible because of the strength of the brands we represent as well as our employee team,” Manny Mitchell, chairman of Mitchell Companies said in a statement. “Without the success in each of our markets we wouldn’t be able to have the opportunity to expand. With this growth we hope this provides more opportunities for our companies, employees and retailers.”

Mitchell Distributing will employ around 550 people throughout Mississippi and Maryland with this growth, according to the statement.