Anheuser-Busch has agreed to acquire London-based craft beer maker Camden Town Brewery, in a deal worth around £85m.
The partnership will enable Camden Town Brewery to expand its operations, it said, bringing more of its canned, bottled and kegged beer to market. In turn, this will pave the way for further growth and expansion. The brewery, which is best known for its Camden Hells lager, began full production in 2010 and sold 12m pints of beer during 2015.
The deal is expected to be finalised early next month.
Camden Town Brewery founder Jasper Cuppaidge said: “Our growth has been phenomenal. To keep up with the demand for our distinctive beers we’ve had to look at expanding our brewing capacity and team. AB InBev is going to be our strategic partner, helping us maintain the character and quality of our beers, while giving us access to the investment we need to drive Camden to being ever more successful at home and abroad.
“Opportunities like this come rarely. We believe we must have the ambition to grab this opportunity and turn Camden Town Brewery, and the quality it stands for, from being an outstanding London brewer to being a world famous one.”
Iain Newell, European director of specialities and craft for Anheuser-Busch, added: “We have a passion for great beer. Camden Town is a creative business with a great range of brands that will complement our existing portfolio. We will support their ambitious plans for the future, using our expertise and global distribution network to help them get their great beer to more people.”
In September, Anheuser-Busch announced that it would acquire Los Angeles-based Golden Road Brewing, as it chased a greater share of the US’ craft beer sector. The company has finalised a deal with SABMiller regarding a $106bn takeover.
The move follows SABMiller’s acquisition of fellow London beer maker Meantime in May and follows a round of crowdfunding from Camden Town Brewery that saw it raise £2.75m on Crowdcube, in return for 3% equity.
Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, said: “This deal is great news for investors in Camden Town Brewery, which originally raised £2.75m on Crowdcube earlier in 2015 to support its ambitious growth plans. It clearly demonstrates that our crowd of investors is a shrewd judge of investment potential. Camden’s pitch prompted widespread discussion with many finance and industry experts being publicly disparaging of its valuation. I expect they will be choking on their Christmas turkey following today’s news. Christmas has come early for Hells Raisers and other investors in Camden.”
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