Innis and Gunn sell 28% for £15m

Innis and Gunn - the Scottish brewer and pub operator has sold 26% of its company to a US PE firm, valuing the business at a little over £50m.

We are not quite sure what to make of this. Sure it verifies the Crowdcube valuation of £50m in 2016 but doesnt it also dilute those shareholders and place them at the mercy of some US corporate?

Around 20% of the £15m is going into buying management shares and rest into operations with no liquidity offered to ordinary shareholders - according to unconfirmed reports.

I&G were making losses before raising £3m on a 7.5% bond via Code Investing in 2015, to build a new brewery. The money ended up being used to buy and expand the Inveralmond Brewery in 2016. Revenues rose by 22% and the company was in profit for the last year.

Needless to say the profit for 2016 of just over £300k doesn't come close to the Crowdcube projected profit (from the pitch in the same year) of £717k.  

It will interesting to see if this, like the sale by Brewdog of part of their company to a US corporate, makes for changes in the companies' fundamental ethos and what happens to the wee shareholder at the bottom of the barrell.