Brewer sells stake in company

James Watt and Martin Dickie

BrewDog revealed it is now worth £1 billion after raising £100 million from American private equity firm, TSG Consumer Partners, in exchange for equity in the company.

In a message to shareholders on Saturday, the north east Scotland brewer said TSG had acquired 22% of the business and the transaction had given it a £1bn enterprise value (equity and debt).

The San Francisco-based owner of a snack brand and water business is paying £213m for its stake in the Ellon-based brewer which was established just 10 years ago with a modest bank loan.

In its statement it said: “TSG has acquired approximately 22% of the company in a transaction where £100m in proceeds went into the company for continued expansion and the balance to create early shareholder equity in a transaction that valued BrewDog plc at £1billion enterprise value.

“The deal is designed to deliver long term capital with 10 year time horizon.”

BrewDog was founded by James Watt and Martin Dickie and until now they have relied heavily on crowdfunding, claiming they would resist corporate involvement.

However, they have become more favourable to institutional backing and revealed recently that they would consider a flotation.

More than 50,000 beer fans who invested in BrewDog’s crowdfunding over the years were told the deal with TSG had boosted the value of their investment by as much as 2,765%.

“Crowdfunding can no longer be viewed as alternative finance; this is the democratisation of finance,” founder James Watt said in the update.