Brewdog offers bond part-payable in beer to finish Australian brewery

Brewdog, the international brewer and bar owner, is planning to expand into India with funds raised from its latest bond offer.

Brewdog’s brewing facility in Brisbane is on track for completion by the end of this year.

The beer maker launched a bond offer on crowdfunding website Crowdcube on 12 November which is payable in both cash and beer.

The brewer will use money raised from the offer to put “finishing touches” on a brewery in Australia which has been under construction since 2018, it said in an emailed statement.

It also plans to open a bar in Mumbai, India, which will bring its total number of bars to more than 100.

Brewdog said it will invest a total of AU$30 million in the new riverfront brewery which will include the construction of a 50-hectolitre, 3,000 square-metre brewing and canning facility. The site will also contain a restaurant, taproom and visitor centre.

Each BrewDog Bond will cost £500, and will provide a 6% yield, which will be paid out 50% in cash. The other half will be paid in “Beer Bucks”, which are redeemable in all of Brewdog’s international bars.

The bond will have a fixed yearly interest rate of 6% gross, across four years, paid out 3% in cash and 3% in craft beer.

Bondholder’s will also receive £20 BrewBucks to spend in the company’s bars and venues worldwide on purchase, as well as a free beer on their birthday for every year they are a bondholder.

The company launched its latest Equity for Punks funding round last month with a target of £7 million, and has already surpassed this figure. It had previously raised £67 million from more than 90,000 people.

The company’s fourth brewery is set to open in Brisbane, Australia before the end of 2019.

Brewdog’s group sales rose 55% in the year to 31 December 2018, according to results filed on Companies House. The company said at the time of publishing its finances that it was in the process of building an Australian brewery, and “identifying additional sites in Asia.”

The brewer employs over 1,500 people in over 90 locations worldwide, with three breweries in Ellon, Scotland, Berlin, Germany and Columbus, Ohio, which collectively export to over 60 countries.