SweetWater Planning For IPO Stock Offering

SweetWater Brewing Company, which brews beers including 420 Extra Pale Ale, Take Two Pils, Hop Hash and Georgia Brown, is making preparations for an initial public offering (IPO), according to people familiar with the matter.

Were SweetWater to proceed with its IPO plans, it would join Boston Beer Co Inc (SAM.N), maker of Sam Adams, and Craft Brew Alliance Inc (BREW.O), as one of the few publicly listed craft beer companies in the United States.

SweetWater, backed by private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners, is in talks with investment banks about a stock market flotation that could come later this year and value the company in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the people said this week.

The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. SweetWater and TSG declined to comment.