Tilray buys BrewDog in GBP 33 million cut-price deal

United Kingdom | The US craft beer and cannabis producer, Tilray, has struck a GBP 33 million (USD 44 million) deal to buy BrewDog’s brands, its Ellon brewery and eleven UK bars, including its London Waterloo flagship. A further 38 bars in the UK will close immediately, leading to 484 job losses, media reported on 2 March.

All of BrewDog’s bars were closed on 2 March as staff was informed about the sale. Staff also learnt that BrewDog's German arm – which includes a brewery and a bar in Berlin, as well as a bar in Hamburg – were not included in the sale and will now be liquidated.

The transaction will be completed via a pre-pack administration. Therefore, some 220,000 retail investors, or “equity punks”, who invested more than USD 100 million in BrewDog through seven rounds of crowdfunding between 2009 and 2021, will be left empty-handed.

Tilray said it expected BrewDog’s assets to deliver about USD 200 million in annual revenues. A person close to the company said Tilray would seek to return BrewDog to its original focus on craft beer, after the company lost direction pursuing unrelated ventures.

“Our priority is to refocus BrewDog on the craft beer excellence that made it beloved in the first place and strategically invest to return the operations to profitable growth,” said Tilray chief executive Irwin Simon.

Tilray is separately negotiating to acquire BrewDog’s assets in the US and Australia.

BrewDog confirmed two weeks ago that consultants AlixPartners had been brought in after the firm failed to make a profit in recent years. The insolvency specialist held talks with potential buyers, including Danish brewer Royal Unibrew and co-founder James Watt. But no offer was made at any stage of the sale process that would have preserved BrewDog in its entirety.

Ahead of the sale, BrewDog had already begun to trim its portfolio by shuttering some UK bars and halting production at its Aberdeenshire distillery.