Scottish craft beer giant BrewDog has been put up for sale, in a move that could see one of the UK’s best‑known independent brewers broken up after years of mounting losses and rising costs. The Ellon‑based business has appointed New York‑headquartered restructuring specialists AlixPartners to run a formal sale process and sound out potential bidders under a tight timetable for indicative offers.
Founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, BrewDog has grown from a small Aberdeenshire start‑up into a global brand, with breweries and bars across several continents and around 60 sites in the UK. Its portfolio, which includes Punk IPA and Elvis Juice, helped drag craft beer into the mainstream and turned the company into one of Scotland’s most recognisable consumer names.
The company has racked up a series of heavy losses over the past five years, including a £23m operating loss in 2023 and a further £37m loss last year, contributing to a cumulative decline of around £148m. BrewDog has already closed a string of bars and shuttered its distillery at its Ellon headquarters as trading conditions in the UK on‑trade and wider beer market have tightened. Management has pointed to a difficult economic climate, higher taxes and tougher conditions for independent brewers as key headwinds.
In a statement, the company stressed that the sale process follows a major internal shake‑up aimed at stabilising the business. A spokesperson for BrewDog said: “Following a year of decisive action in 2025, which saw a focus on costs and operating efficiencies, we have appointed AlixPartners to support a structured and competitive process to evaluate the next phase of investment for the business. This is a deliberate and disciplined step with a focus on strengthening the long-term future of the BrewDog brand and its operations.” The group said all breweries, bars and venues continue to trade as normal while options are assessed.
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AlixPartners has begun approaching prospective buyers, with a full sale of the group only one of the scenarios being explored. A possible break‑up, separating the brewing and bar operations, is also on the table, raising questions about the future of its network of more than 70 bars worldwide and the jobs of some 1,400 staff. Once‑lofty flotation ambitions, which had seen BrewDog talked about at valuations of up to £2bn, now appear remote, with any deal expected to come in well below those levels.
Private equity is expected to loom large among potential suitors, including US investor TSG Consumer Partners, which took a 22% stake in BrewDog in 2017 and has since extended a £20m loan to support the business. High‑cost borrowing, with some debt reportedly carrying interest rates of up to 18%, has piled additional pressure on the balance sheet as trading has softened. There is also speculation that Watt, who has stepped back from the chief executive role but remains closely linked to the brand, could consider backing a bid for the core beer and bar operations.
For the thousands of small “Equity for Punks” investors who bought into BrewDog’s crowd‑funded expansion and anti‑establishment image, the sale process marks a pivotal moment. Any eventual deal structure will be scrutinised by those shareholders, many of whom invested as much in the company’s rebellious ethos as in its financial prospects. In a sector where cost pressures, changing drinking habits and intense competition are squeezing margins, the outcome will be seen as a test of whether large‑scale craft brewers can still thrive in the UK market.
