A cash-strapped O'Fallon Brewery is in negotiations with local investors to sell the company, and a deal is likely to be finalized within the next 30 days, brewery owner Fran Caradonna told the Post-Dispatch today.

"We are having conversations with a number of investors who have signed confidentiality agreements, and we're hoping to find an injection of cash to help fund our growth," says Caradonna, who runs the brewery with her husband, Tony Caradonna.

She added that all of the potential investors are from the St. Louis metro area.

Including the two owners, O'Fallon employs seven people. In what Caradonna called "temporary layoffs," the workers have been put on limited schedules this month, and production at the brewery, located in an industrial complex in O'Fallon, Mo., about 35 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis, has been reduced.

Although O'Fallon has experienced double-digit sales growth the past two years, Caradonna said the company is still reeling from flat sales in 2007 and 2008.

"We're still trying to get over that hump," she said. "And we're at a critical point -- we have to make a deal now."