Crowdcube · UK

Camden Town Brewery’s crowd round: 1.68x to about 2x in eight months

2,173 investors bought into Camden Town Brewery at around 64p a share in April 2015. AB InBev bought the brewery that December, offering them £1.09 to £1.25 a share.

Past returns are not a guide to future returns. General information, not advice.

The figures

Multiple 1.68x to about 2x Realised

Platform
Crowdcube
Country
UK
Crowd round
2015
Entry price or valuation
Around 64p a share
Exit or latest event
Bought by AB InBev, at £1.0861 to £1.2526 a share

Camden Town Brewery: crowd round in 2015; entry at Around 64p a share; exit or latest event: Bought by AB InBev, at £1.0861 to £1.2526 a share.

The round

Camden Town Brewery, a London craft brewer, raised £2,750,000 on Crowdcube in April 2015, from 2,173 investors. Proactive Investors (opens in a new tab) records that the crowd held about 5.75% of the company after the campaign, having subscribed at around 64p a share. The valuation drew public criticism at the time, and Crowdcube's co-founder referred to that when the sale came.

What happened

Eight months later, in December 2015, AB InBev agreed to buy the brewery. The deal was rumoured at about £85m (opens in a new tab), and UK Investor Magazine (opens in a new tab) called it the second successful exit for a crowdfunded business, after E-Car Club.

Crowd shareholders had a choice. Proactive Investors (opens in a new tab) reports that they would receive between £1.0861 and £1.2526 a share, depending on whether they took payment upfront or a contingent payout tied to the brewery's performance over the next five years. The company's letter to shareholders (opens in a new tab), as Wikipedia summarises it, gives the same range. Crowdcube itself called it a multiple return (opens in a new tab).

What the figure does and does not say

The return was real but it was a range. Proactive Investors (opens in a new tab) put it at between 68% and about 100%, which is 1.68x to about 2x the money put in. Only the lower end was cash paid at the sale. The upper end relied on sales growth under the new owner, over five years, and we have not seen what that later payment came to. So we chart 1.68x, and treat about 2x as the most the offer could pay.

"Multiple return" was the platform's word for a gain of under two times, and a commentator at the time (opens in a new tab) put it at roughly 70%. Eight months is very fast, though, and few cases on this page returned money so quickly.

The entry figure is approximate too, as the source says "around 64p". We have not seen the subscription document, so the 68% could move a little either way. The return also takes no account of tax, or of any relief investors could claim. The offer (opens in a new tab) went to the crowd's shareholders as a group, which is rarer than it sounds: compare the partial sales at Mettrr and at Revolut, where only some shares found a buyer.

Timeline

  1. April 2015

    £2,750,000 raised from 2,173 investors on Crowdcube, at around 64p a share. Proactive Investors (opens in a new tab)

  2. December 2015

    AB InBev agrees to buy the brewery; crowd holders are offered £1.0861 to £1.2526 a share. Proactive Investors (opens in a new tab)

  3. December 2015

    Called the second crowdfunding exit. UK Investor Magazine (opens in a new tab)

Sources

  1. Proactive Investors, December 2015: Camden Town takeover no small beer for crowdfunders (opens in a new tab)
  2. UK Investor Magazine, 22 December 2015: Camden Town Brewery becomes second crowdfunding exit (opens in a new tab)
  3. Crowdfund Insider, December 2015: Crowdcube celebrates Camden Town Brewery's acquisition (opens in a new tab)
  4. Wikipedia, Crowdcube: citing Camden Town Brewery's letter to shareholders (opens in a new tab)
  5. Fantasy Equity Crowdfunding, 22 December 2015: Camden Brewery exit (opens in a new tab)

By Raise Sonar. Published . Sources read .

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