Big Drop Brewing

Case study

Price Bailey Strategic Corporate Finance provided financial due diligence services to Panoramic Growth Equity (“Panoramic”), a leading equity investor in fast growing, entrepreneurial UK companies, in its recent £2.5m investment of growth capital into alcohol-free brewing company Big Drop Brewing.

Big Drop was launched in 2016 by entrepreneurs Rob Fink and James Kindred, two friends who wanted to create alcohol-free craft beer that didn’t compromise on taste. Big Drop’s beers have won top prizes in beer awards across the globe – including ‘World’s Best’ at the World Beer Awards – beating full-strength rivals in blind-tastings. Big Drop currently brews in Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK, and is available in more than 20 countries.

The investment is part of a £3.5m round, with Panoramic investing alongside Rubix Ventures, Flexitalian, and existing investors, including Mark Hunter, who was chief executive of Molson Coors, and Stefan Orlowski, former head of Europe at Heineken.

Panoramic’s investment will support Big Drop’s expansion in the UK, US, and Australia. Big Drop has big plans for the rest of the year, including a unique London venue and numerous events and activations. This summer, it will reach over 250,000 consumers at festivals like Urban Food Festival, Goodwood Festival of Speed and Bigfoot Festival.
The team at Price Bailey, led by Stephen Reed and Seb Humberston, provided critical insight into the business to provide Panoramic with the required comfort on their proposed investment. The work included a review of historic performance of Big Drop and developing a detailed understanding of its recent growth in a period impacted by the Pandemic. This helped to perform a critical review of the model, applying well-informed sensitivities to assess the impact of downturn performance and establish suitable mitigation for future cash flow needs.

Stephen Reed, Partner at Price Bailey, commented, “We are delighted to have assisted Panoramic with their investment in this exciting brewing business. Panoramic will be a great partner for Big Drop to have onboard, and we will watch its future with interest”.

Seb Humberston, Manager at Price Bailey, said “It was a pleasure to deal with the teams at Big Drop and Panoramic. We wish both parties every success with their exciting future plans.”

David Atkinson, Senior Investment Manager, at Panoramic: “Panoramic were pleased to engage Price Bailey on our investment into Big Drop, who had both a local presence and the industry knowledge to provide excellent advice during the process.”