US company eyes deal with Innis & Gunn

A US private equity firm with links to luxury goods group LVMH has offered to buy a 27.9 per cent stake in Innis & Gunn in a deal that values the craft beer maker at about £52 million.

L Catterton, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, was formed last year in a partnership with consumerfocused investor Catterton, Glenmorangie owner LVMH and the family holding company of French tycoon and LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.

Edinburgh-based Innis & Gunn said it was recommending that shareholders accept the offer. The move comes after rival beer producer Brewdog sold about 23 per cent of its business to TSG Consumer Partners.

Innis & Gunn founder and master brewer Dougal Sharp said: “The craft beer category is booming globally, and this is a hugely exciting opportunity at the right time for us to build strongly on the solid foundations that have been laid to double our 2015 turnover by 2018.”

Innis & Gunn saw its sales surge by 22 per cent last year, returning it to profit and putting it in reach of its £25m turnover target.

It also benefited from the integration of the Inveralmond Brewery business in Perth, which it bought last year, as it saw turnover grow to £14.3m in 2016, up from £11.8m in 2015.

If the deal with L Catterton goes ahead, Sharp would remain as the largest single shareholder in Innis & Gunn, which recently raised £2.4m in a crowdfunding campaign. Lcatterton’sportfolioincludes skincare brand Elemis. 0 Dougal Sharp is firm’s largest single shareholder