The dramatic demise of Brewdog
Our weekly free round up of key deals and major moves in the Rainmakers world
Hello Rainmakers,
There doesn’t appear to be any noticeable slowdown in deals being completed, and they still appear to be of all types and flavours, pre-packs, buy-and-builds, and private equity still writing decent sized cheques.
Whether international turmoil and war has a knock-on effect remains to be seen.
This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, and River Capital, Foresight, Mercia, Puma and LDC.
One of the biggest deals in the country this week was undoubtedly BrewDog being sold in a pre-pack administration deal, almost 20 years after James Watt and Martin Dickie’s craft brew revolution began.
US cannabis and beer consolidator Tilray Brands picked up the intellectual property, domestic brewing operations and 11 bars in the UK and Ireland, for £33m - about 98% less than the rumoured IPO valuation a few years back.
Administrators AlixPartners said the deal preserves 733 jobs in the UK, which was the best outcome of any bidder, but still saw 38 bars closed, leading to 484 redundancies. There will also be no return for any of BrewDog’s early Equity for Punks crowdfunders.
The administrator also stated that there will be no return to any equity holders, including that granted under the Equity for Punks scheme, from the transaction.
Brewdog’s leadership haven’t covered themselves in glory. Unite’s national lead for hospitality Bryan Simpson saying workers being given no information about the company’s plans or their futures.
“For the CEO to tell workers that they were redundant with immediate effect, on a conference call with only 25 minutes notice, has echoes of P&O and is deplorable.”
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FW Capital has secured another £7m from the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund, taking its regional pot from £19m to £26m.
The top-up follows FW Capital hitting £10m deployed across 23 businesses in Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire and surrounding areas – backing the likes of Needles & Pins, Purple Lime, and Tailfin as they scale.
Fund manager David Goodall reckons the South West Investment Fund has quickly become “a well-established part of the region’s funding ecosystem” since launching in 2023. The wider £200m fund – split between four managers – has pumped £56m into over 250 small businesses, pulling in another £64m from private investors along the way.
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A £170m turnover Sheffield-headquartered manufacturing group with a history dating back more than 160 years has begun a new chapter following private equity investment. Waterland Private Equity has swooped for a majority stake in Cooper Turner Beck Group (CTB), which provides safety-critical fastener solutions for the energy, construction and heavy industries. CTB Group operates 21 facilities across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, employing over 1,000 people.
The group says Waterland’s backing means it will be able to break into new markets, including via acquisitions. The PE support also enhances the group’s ability to support increasingly complex and international projects. Waterland says CTB Group’s skilled workforce serves industries which are “fundamental” to infrastructure and the energy transition.
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Manchester-based Northstar Broadcast Services has acquired Picture Shop Bristol from Streamland Media, to become part of its Home Post Production portfolio.
The facility joins Northstar’s Manchester-led post production business, reinforcing the group’s strategy to build a scaled, regionally anchored alternative to the capital’s media services market.
Home Post Production is an independent media post production facility with offices in Manchester and Bristol. It offers a suite of TV and film post production services, including capture on location, offline and online edit, colour grading and finishing.
Since its origins as The Farm’s Bristol and Manchester outposts, the facility has now grown into the UK’s largest post production business outside London, it said.
Operating from its Grade II-listed premises in Clifton, the Bristol business employs 30 creative, technical and production staff, all of whom will be retained as part of the transaction.
The team has worked across flagship productions including Our Oceans (Netflix), Underdogs (Nat Geo/Disney), The Dog House (Channel 4), George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (Channel 4) and Moominvalley (Sky Kids).
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A West Midlands technology business is betting big on the value of rubbish after launching a joint venture with investor Eren Groupe to roll out waste-to-molecules plants worldwide.
The new venture, Sustainable Molecules (SuMo), plans to deploy modular advanced gasification technology across the UK, Europe and beyond, turning non-recyclable waste into clean syngas that can be refined into renewable methanol, hydrogen, synthetic methane and even sustainable aviation fuel. In other words, yesterday’s rubbish could end up powering tomorrow’s flights.
The partnership could see investment reach €500m as the companies look to scale the technology and help energy-hungry industries clean up their act - while giving landfill a well-deserved day off.
SuMo says its gasification platform has more than a decade of development and demonstration behind it and is designed to be rolled out commercially at scale.
Eren Groupe, founded in 2011 after the sale of EDF Energies Nouvelles, invests across several areas of the energy transition, including hydrogen, biogas and energy storage.
The venture is effectively betting that one industry’s rubbish really can be another’s treasure.
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Industrial products distributor RS Group has powered up a £27m acquisition of Leicester-based automation and control specialist BPX Group, with an additional £3m on the line if performance targets are met.
The move plugs RS directly into BPX’s network of around 6,000 industrial customers across the UK and Ireland, plus a circuit of 20 branches and two distribution centres.
Founded more than 50 years ago, BPX employs about 230 people across seven brands and specialises in supplying automation and control components from major electrical, electronic and pneumatic manufacturers - essentially the nuts, bolts and buttons that keep modern factories humming.
For RS, the acquisition is less a leap of faith and more a carefully programmed move.
Automation and control already account for more than 40% of group revenue, and BPX adds extra horsepower to an already well-oiled machine.
In short, RS has flicked the switch on growth, bolting on customers, tightening supplier connections and adding a few more automated strings to its industrial bow.
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Rainmakers favourite TV series Industry reached a shocking series conclusion this week, taking a very dark turn with the storyline leaning heavily on sexual grooming and blackmail, inspired by the Epstein Files.
It encouraged another viewing of the fantastic documentary film about the rise, rise and eventual fall of Wirecard, thanks to the dogged reporting of the FT’s Dan McCrum.
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The Rainmakers Summit on the 25th of March will feature a debate on the future of professional services as partners consider their next strategic options.
Featuring leaders of businesses who have chosen very different paths, and an investor in one of the consolidators driving the change across the sector, the debate will throw an intense focus on the stark choices that professional services firms face.
Making the case for independence will be Helen Clayton, managing partner at accountancy firm PM&M.
Telling the story about their respective lives on the public markets will be Rakesh Shaunak, CEO of MHA, and James Sheridan, head of M&A at Knights PLC.
Explaining the investment decision behind aggregation will be Matt Nicholson, investment lead at Tenzing, the private equity backer of accountancy consolidator DJH.
As a thank you for being part of our Rainmakers community, we are pleased to offer an exclusive 20% discount for the upcoming Rainmakers Summit on March 25th.
This is a unique opportunity to engage with industry leaders, gain insights, and connect with like-minded professionals.
As you can see the agenda features keynote speakers and exclusive sessions hearing from The Beauty Tech Group, Northern Gritstone, Rem3dy Health & GM Pension Fund. With some more details below…
Event details & registration:
https://www.rainmakerssummit.co.uk/
Discount code: RAINMAKER20
Please note that this offer is available for a limited time. We encourage you to secure your place at your earliest convenience.
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