BrewDog’s new owner sets out plan for revival – Daily Business

BrewDog’s new owner is looking to reopen some of its bars, its recently closed Aberdeenshire distillery and produce some of its American brands at the under-used Ellon brewery.

Irwin Simon, the chief executive of US-based Tilray Brands, last week bought the company’s global intellectual property rights, the brewery, and 11 of its bars, in a deal that preserved 733 jobs.

He is looking to rebuild the UK business and is pursuing separate deals for BrewDog’s American and Australian subsidiaries.

In a brief meeting to US media about the heavily-discounted acquisition, he said “you could not simply build this platform in Europe today for the amount of money we paid.”

He is looking to use BrewDog’s Ellon plant to introduce American brands such as Shock Top and SweetWater to British drinkers.

“We have to double the capacity here,” he said. Tilray’s total beer volume in 2024 was 783,495 bbls, while BrewDog produced just 670,000 barrels from a facility that has the capacity to turn out 2 million.

Among those staying with the business are James Taylor, the BrewDog chief executive, and Lauren Carrol, its chief operating officer, who are expected to lead a new growth plan.

This will offer hope to some of the 484 workers who lost their jobs when BrewDog went into administration on Monday. Mr Simon has also told The Times that he may offer some benefits, such as discounts on food and drink to the 220,000 “equity punks” whose investments were wiped out.

The private equity company TSG Partners which paid £213 million for a 21% stake in 2017 ahead of what was was meant to pave the way for a flotation, also lost its shirt despite the supposed “protection” of preference shares in the deal.

Nasdaq-listed Tilray, which also has interests in cannabis and wellness products, had been looking to acquire BrewDog for some time, he said, but he felt it was over-valued. It acquired it last week in a pre-pack administration for £33m, a fraction of its previous £1 billion valuation.

Mr Simon is now looking to revive the brand and some of its operations. His immediate plans include re-opening a further four bars and targeting new sites such as Heathrow Airport.

The decision in January to close the Ellon distillery, which produced gin, rum, vodka and whisky, is likely to be reversed.

He said: “That is back on the table and more than likely, we will get that back up and going again.”

Tilray has pulled off a number of recent deals, including a partnership with Carlsberg that kicks in next year, and analysts are assessing Tilray’s chances of succeeding where BrewDog failed.

One US commentator said: “The question is whether Tilray can execute on it while continuing to digest its previous purchases and addressing the added complexity of a transatlantic business, a damaged brand, and a downtrodden workforce.”