Sale of Vista could be charging home

The yearlong pending sale of Vista Outdoor’s ammunition companies has a new twist and yet another new and higher bid.

In a news release posted Friday, the company said the Czechoslovak Group has upped its offer to buy CCI/Speer and other Vista ammo brands to $2.225 billion. It’s part of a new larger deal that would also see the company sell its recreation brands that include Simms Fishing and Camp Chef to Strategic Value Partners, a global investment firm, for $1.125 billion.

Both deals are contingent on the other going through and together represent a $3.35 billion price tag, or $45 per share. The sale of the company’s ammo branch, known as the Kinetic Group, is scheduled to close by the end of the year. The recreation group, known as Revelyst, is set to close in January.

“The Board has worked tirelessly to deliver maximum value to its stockholders, and we are pleased to have reached this agreement with SVP and CSG which helps us achieve that objective,” Michael Callahan, chairperson of the Vista Outdoor Board of Directors, said in a news release. “The Board engaged in a thorough process to identify the best avenues to unlock value — and through these two separate, but contingent, transactions with SVP and CSG, we have identified a path that reflects the true strength and potential of both Revelyst and The Kinetic Group.”

Vista Outdoors has been in the process of selling its bullet manufacturing arm for more than a year. It began last October with a bid from the Czech Group to purchase the ammo brands for $1.9 billion. Since then, other bidders have come and gone and a protest from Republican senator and now vice president candidate JD Vance was resolved.

In January, Vance asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to direct the Committee on Foreign Investment to review the sale and determine if it undermined national security because the buyer is a foreign company. The committee said the deal does not raise red flags.

Over the past 12 months, the offer from the Czech Group has grown by about $335 million.

“We look forward to creating long-term value at The Kinetic Group as part of the CSG portfolio,” Michal Strnad, CEO and owner of CSG, said in a news release. “The Kinetic Group has a deep heritage of delivering high-quality, innovative products and we will provide significant resources, investment and expertise to continue growing the business and serving its customers with leading ammunition products. We are confident CSG’s acquisition of the Kinetic Group is the best outcome for Vista Outdoor stockholders, employees of the Company and the American economy.”

A meeting of the Vista Outdoor board of directors that was to happen today has been postponed and has not yet been rescheduled.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com.