Brewdog owner shrugs off James Watt takeover bid
The owner of Brewdog has insisted the company is “not for sale” after co-founder James Watt launched a dramatic takeover bid for the craft beer firm.
Irwin Simon, boss of Brewdog’s US owner, Tilray, told City PM he intends to retain the pub chain and brewery just hours after Watt said he had submitted a bid to buy it back.
“Brewdog’s not for sale, and you know Brewdog is an integral part of Tilray, and we are excited about Brewdog, and we’re excited about the future for Brewdog,” he said.
Simon is the chief executive of Tilray Brands, the US craft beer and cannabis firm which snapped up Brewdog’s UK, US and Australian operations for just £33m in March this year.
The sale brought an end to a spectacular downfall for Brewdog, which kickstarted the country’s craft beer craze and had once commanded a £2bn valuation.
Watt, who co-founded the company with school friend Martin Dickie in 2007, said on Wednesday that he has tabled an official bid to buy back the company.
The Scottish entrepreneur launched the bid through Second Best, a vehicle he set up to offer shares to thousands of “equity punks” who had bought shares in Brewdog but gained nothing from its eventual sale.
He claimed that each of the 43,000 “equity punks” who have signed up – and each of the Brewdog’s employees – would get a stake in the beer firm if he bought it back.
But Simon insisted that these everyday investors – who gained some discounts on food and beer with their shareholding – are better served under Tilray’s ownership.
He said: “I don’t know what James is promising. I don’t know what he’s offering them. All I know is we made a commitment [on] day one to honor the [equity punk discounts].”
The Tilray boss also cast doubt over whether Watt has submitted a formal bid, telling City PM he has had no communication with Brewdog’s co-founder. “I have no reason to,” he said.
Speaking ahead of an England v Argentina watch party at Brewdog’s flagship Waterloo pub, he said: “I have no message for James. My message is to all the consumers, all the people here today.
“Thank you very much for your support of Brewdog since we acquired it. Thank you very much for those that have stopped buying Brewdog [and are] back buying it, and just stay tuned to all the great things we’re going to do.”
Tilray, the Nasdaq-listed firm which bought Brewdog in March, had announced plans to expand the brand across the UK, the US and Australia and return it to a $1bn valuation.
The sale of Brewdog involved the closure of 38 of its UK locations and the loss of 484 staff, but Simon said he was not to blame for these redundancies.
“Tilray stepped in here. We acquired it. Yes, there were brew-pubs closed. You know, it wasn’t us that closed it. We kept over 600 people,” he said.
Brewdog is “absolutely” in a better condition than when Tilray bought it earlier this year, he said.
Announcing his claim that he had tabled a bid for the company, Watt said on Wednesday: “The punks and the crew built this company and Brewdog deserves to belong to them once more.”
Watt and Dickie had both stepped away from the company before its sale, after allegations – fiercely denied by the founders – of a toxic workplace and a “cult of personality” around Watt.