Royal Unibrew heads queue as BrewDog sale nears – Daily Business

Brewdog is expected to be sold early next week, with Danish bewer Royal Unibrew, the second biggest brewer in Denmark, mentioned as a likely buyer.

A deal may mean closure of its German operations, while the company’s online business will be temporarily suspended during the transaction.

It is thought co-founder James Watt remains interested, having pledged £10 million to support a private equity bid for the entire company.

Royal Unibrew is listed in Copenhagen and its brands include Faxe and Anarkist. It is most likely to be keen on BrewDog’s brand portfolio rather than its bar estate, according to Sky News.

An email from chief executive James Taylor, circulated to BrewDog staff, read: “As we prepare for the transition to new ownership, we will be taking a small number of temporary operational steps. We will temporarily suspend trading via our e-commerce sites to ensure a smooth transition.

“Our bars will continue to trade as normal on Saturday and Sunday.”

Brewdog, which was founded by friends Mr Watt and Martin Dickie in 2007 and now has breweries and pubs around the globe, including about 60 in the the UK.

It confirmed two weeks ago that consultants AlixPartners had been brought in after the firm failed to make a profit in recent years.

Mr Taylor said it was a difficult decision to sell the business and apologised “for the uncertainty this creates”.

He said there had been “a great deal of interest” from potential buyers, and a full update would be issued at a company-wide “all hands” meeting early next week.

About 200,000 “punk” investors who contributed more than £75m through crowdfunding and unlikely to see any return on their money.

TSG Consumer Partners acquired a 22% stake in Brewdog in 2017 and the deal granted preference shares to the company which would leave other investors empty-handed in view of the sale being well below expectations.

In January BrewDog halted production at its gin and vodka distillery in Ellon, Aberdeenshire and last year closed a number of bars in the UK and US. It posted a £36.7m loss.