Brewdog’s ‘Equity for Punks’ investors prepare to lose out
Brewdog’s crowdfunders, known as Equity Punks, have predicted their shares will be “worthless” once the business has been sold. db reports.
Scottish beer and bar giant recently called in restructuring consultants AlixPartners in a move that could see the business being broken up and sold off in parts.
Brewdog, which has approximately 220,000 individual shareholders who became investors through its ‘Equity for Punks’ scheme, could be left with very little return from their average outlay of about £400 dependent upon the deal made.
Frustrations
The investors, who have recently taken to airing their frustrations on the Equity for Punks bulletin board as well as via social media have said it “would have been nice to have been informed of it by management before reading it in the news. But then again, that’s just the Brewdog way nowadays. More evidence that the EFPs [exchange of futures for physical investors], who shelled out cash to get them in this position, mean less than f*** all to the company”.
The issue centres around the concern that many crowdfunders could potentially be left with nothing if a deal to buy up the beer and bar business instead prioritises TSG Consumer Partners, which has a 21% stake in Brewdog.
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Speaking to the drinks business on BlueSky, Richard Brooks skeeted: “I’ve got two shares bought for ~£50 something and expect zero from them. My thinking is both bar and brewery get separately bought under prepack admins. There won’t be anything left for EFPs. But I’ve taken enough pleasure from voting against Watt at AGMs to consider myself made whole anyway.”
‘Annoyed’
Describing the worry that crowdfunders who bought shares face, Ed Lacey told db: “I’ve got 500 shares and gave up on any return on those over a year ago. If I lose my 15% bar discount I will be annoyed.”
Last month, Brewdog revealed it was closing the distillery at its headquarters in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, shuttering the business indefinitely. This coincided with rumours that James Watt, who co-founded Brewdog in 2007, was reportedly considering a bid to buy back the beer and bar business.
James aka @gammonbaron took to BlueSky and admitted to db that he “bought the minimum in EFPII and EFPV” and yet because he “sold 15% when TSG came onboard and made double what I spent on shares”. Although he also revealed that he “does not expect them to be worth anything soon” and added that he “won’t be happy if Watt comes back and they are worthless considering this was his raison d’être”.
Random Hajile queried: “Punk shares? Weren’t they always worthless?”
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