James Watt is bidding to buy back parts of the BrewDog empire just months after a US company bought it out of administration.
Tilray Brands, the Nasdaq-listed American consumer goods group, acquired key assets of the business for a cut-price £33 million and has invested £50m, including reopening some pubs.
Rival bidders included Mr Watt, who co-founded BrewDog in 2007 and has now launched a further attempt to buy the Ellon Brewery in Aberdeenshire and some other assets.
He is expected to be restoring an ownership stake to former “equity punk” retail investors, whose shares in BrewDog became worthless when it collapsed n in March. He has enlisted many of them to his new business, Second Best which would become part of the new BrewDog.
In a message to about 42,000 supporters, Mr Watt said that if his offer to Tilray is successful “everyone who has signed up will own the same stake in BrewDog they once held. For free.”
Should the bid for BrewDog fail, Watt will pursue Second Best as a standalone business.
Tilray acquired the intellectual property, the Ellon brewery and 11 pubs. There were about about 430 job losses.
Its investment has included introducing a number of its US craft beers to BrewDog customers.
Tilray said: “We do not comment on speculation. We’re very happy and excited about BrewDog’s business worldwide.”
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