Melbourne craft brewer Kaiju saved from liquidation in rescue deal
The owners of embattled Melbourne craft beer brewer Kaiju will retain control of their company after striking a deal with creditors who have agreed to settle for just 15c on the dollar.
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Melbourne craft beer brewer Kaiju has been saved from liquidation after striking a deal with creditors.
The rescue plan, put forward by owners Nathaniel and Callum Reeve, has been signed off on by creditors who have settled for just 15c on the dollar.
South East Brewing Company, which trades as Kaiju Beer, located in Dandenong South in the city’s southeast, called in the administrators last month after it collapsed into insolvency amid a $5m debt pile.
The Reeves, who are brothers, will inject $680,000 within 12 months to settle all creditor claims, in exchange for control of their brewery.
It’s understood Callum has been required to stand down as chair of the Independent Brewers Association due to a requirement in their constitution that orders board directors to resign if their breweries enter administration.
Bright Brewery national business development and brand manager Evin Craney, who was previously deputy chair, is now listed as chair on the association’s website.
Kaiju is an award-winning brewery, taking out the title of Champion Medium Australian Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards last year.
Its products are sold at major liquor outlets including BWS, Liquorland and Dan Murphy’s.
Under the rescue deal, signed off on by creditors late last week, employees, who are owed $215,230, will get paid out in full.
But unsecured creditors, who are owed just under $4m, have settled for 15c on the dollar.
They are made up of trade creditors owed $278,783, related-party creditors owed $880,328 and the tax office owed $2.7m.
Secured creditors are owed $941,376, bringing total liabilities to about $5.1m.
DBA Reconstruction and Advisory managing director Atle Crowe-Maxwell said the rescue deal enabled employees to keep their jobs and would provide a better return for creditors than liquidation, which he estimated at 0c to 10c on the dollar.
Assets, including cash at the bank and receivables of the company, will be retained by the business and not sold off to pay a dividend to creditors.
Mr Crowe-Maxwell’s report put the company’s total assets at $1.6m, including cash at the bank ($362,035), plant and equipment ($519,330) and stock and inventory ($102,450).
The cash contribution will be first paid to administrators, then to non-continuing employees and lastly unsecured creditors.
The Reeves previously told creditors that excise tariffs and Victoria’s cash-for-container deposit scheme had played a major role in its financial woes.
The directors also said they had felt the effects of a public’s lack of spending on discretionary items like beer during a cost of living crisis.
The company’s books show total sales took a hit from $6.4m in FY23, to $5.4m in FY24 and $3m year to date in 2025.
It comes after Beechworth drinks maker Billson’s entered a rescue deal with American giant Coca-Cola in December after racking up $21.3m in debt.
Bad Shepherd brewery in Melbourne’s southeast also previously undertook a restructure after entering administration and continues to trade.
Originally published as Melbourne craft brewer Kaiju saved from liquidation in rescue deal
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