BrewDog co-founder James Watt has submitted a £30 million offer to buy back the craft brewery's UK assets from US producer Tilray Brands.
The proposal, made through his new venture Second Best, targets the Scottish brewer's UK operations including its flagship brewery and taproom in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, while excluding US assets.
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Tilray acquired the US division in a separate transaction in March for £33 million.
If accepted, the deal would re-employ over 1,000 BrewDog workers across UK operations and restore equity to retail investors whose investments were wiped out during administration.
"If we succeed, every registered punk gets their BrewDog equity back, for free," Watt said online.
He explained that excluding the growing US division was strategic. "With everything outside of the US, we've got so much to focus on.
So the proposal that I've put on the table would be that we do the whole business but we'd be leaving the US with them," Watt stated.
Watt noted the US operations fit well within Tilray's current portfolio. "The US element maybe makes sense left with them in terms of the other assets they've got.
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So hopefully that's something that might appeal to them," he added.
Reflecting on the hospitality sector, Watt acknowledged tough conditions.
"The business environment is tough for sure – one of the toughest environments we've seen to operate these types of businesses in the UK," he said.
Despite challenges, he remained optimistic about innovation. "But I think there's still opportunities to innovate.
There's opportunities to drive the future of beer," Watt added.
Tilray has received the proposal, though CEO Irwin Simon said last month he remained "really happy" with the acquisition.
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BrewDog, founded in 2007 by Watt and Martin Dickie, reached a £2 billion valuation in 2021 before entering administration under £800 million in liabilities.
