BrewDog has been sold out of administration to Tilray Brands for £33 million on Monday, a deal that will close 38 bars, cut 484 jobs and leave its 200,000 crowdfunding investors without a return.

Administrators from AlixPartners confirmed that Tilray had acquired BrewDog’s global brand, intellectual property, UK brewing operations and 11 bars in the UK and Ireland, preserving 733 roles. The sites retained include DogTap Ellon in Aberdeenshire and bars in Birmingham, Dublin, Manchester and London, including the company’s biggest location adjacent to Waterloo station. Tilray said it was separately negotiating to buy assets in the US and Australia.

Clare Kennedy, managing director at AlixPartners, said: “No offer was made at any stage of the sales process, from any prospective bidder, which would have preserved BrewDog in its entirety.” She added that the firm had secured a purchaser “with a passion for craft brewing” and confirmed there would be “no return to any equity holders” as a result of the transaction.

The closure of 38 bars takes immediate effect, resulting in 484 redundancies. Unite, the trade union, said: “Nearly 500 livelihoods have been wiped out while yet another corporate deal is stitched together behind closed doors.” The union accused senior management of “catastrophic mismanagement” and said workers had learned of the deal through the media before being informed directly.

Irwin D Simon, chair and chief executive of Tilray, said the group would “refocus BrewDog on the craft beer excellence that made it beloved in the first place and strategically invest to return the operations to profitable growth”. Tilray expects the acquired business to generate about $200 million in annual net revenue and $6 million to $8 million of adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by fiscal 2027, according to company statements.

The sale follows years of financial strain at BrewDog, which recorded a £37 million loss last year and had appointed AlixPartners in February to oversee a strategic review. Founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, the brewer had previously been valued at up to £2 billion during its rapid expansion through its “Equity for Punks” fundraising model.

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