Almost all creditors owed more than £190 million from the failed BrewDog brewing and pubs chain will not expect their bills to be paid, according to accountants handling the Aberdeenshire firm’s collapse.
AlixPartners warned there were “insufficient funds” to pay debts in full, including taxes and a string of bills from other businesses.
Most of the assets of BrewDog, once valued at over £1 billion, were acquired earlier this year by the US cannabis and drinks company Tilray.
Six indicative offers were received by administrators during the sales process. Tilray Brands had been chosen as it “would offer the best return to the creditors of the companies as a whole”
It took on the intellectual property, breweries and 11 bars from the administrators but closed 38 bars and left 440 staff out of work. The deal wiped out the investments of 200,000 “equity punks” who crowdfunded the business in several fund-raising rounds.
Staff who were owed £489,000 in wages and holiday pay have already been compensated under the government’s redundancy payment scheme.
However, £2.4m in taxes will not be repaid to HM Revenue and Customs, although a separate £3.6m debt will be paid back.
A total of 59 Aberdeen and northeast companies owed about £2.4m are among the unsecured creditors not expected to receive a dividend. Others include Lord’s Cricket Ground, West Ham United FC and Manchester University, will receive less than a penny in the pound.
Private equity investor TSG, which bought a 22% stake for £213m in 2017, had its investment wiped out. HSBC is expected to recover about £42m of about £61m it is owed.
The administration process ends of 2 March.
James Watt, who co-founded BrewDog with friend Martin Dickie in 2007, has since set up several ventures, including Social Tip, which pays people to make social media posts about brands. He also launched a new beer business, Second Best, and has offered former BrewDog investors free shares in the business.
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