Brewing power: Little Creatures founders gulp down $256 million deal

Independent brewery Little Creatures, which was started only 12 years ago by three beer enthusiasts who dreamt of creating the perfect ale, has backed a foreign takeover offer that values the company at more than $380 million.

Last year, the Perth-based brewer reported revenue of $70 million and net profits of $9.2 million.

Little World Beverages, the owner of Little Creatures, said Japanese-owned brewing giant Lion had offered $5.30 each for all outstanding shares in LWB, a 40% premium on Little World Beverage's pre-announcement trading price of $3.79.

Lion already holds a stake of more than 36% in Little World Beverages and would need to put up $256.3 million to buy up the outstanding capital under the terms of the bid.

Little World Beverages director Howard Cearns, one of the original founders of the brewer, said the deal was "a great reward for shareholders".

Cearns himself is set to pocket $30.2 million from the deal while fellow founders Adrian Fini and Nic Trimboli will take home $56 million and $31.3 million each.

"This has gone further than we ever dreamed," Cearns says.

"I am not sure we even had a scale in mind when we started other than we just wanted to make a particular type of beer."

Cearns says the founders and directors are "very focused" on making the deal work for Little Creatures.

"It is just getting through this transition period. We are very keen to see Little Creatures continue to be a success and take it to another level on a national and international stage, something we couldn't do ourselves," he says.

Check out the five secrets to Little Creatures' success Cearns shared with The Power Index's sister publication, SmartCompany.