Vista Outdoors Sales Vote Stalled

A saga that has dragged on for several months now will see yet another delay, as the planned vote on the sale of Vista Outdoors’ ammunition business has been delayed.

The Vista Saga @ TFB:

• Vista Outdoor Announces Strategic Business Transformation Plan
• Czechoslovak Group To Acquire Vista Outdoor's Ammunition Business in $2 Billion Deal
• Vista Outdoors Board Recommends Selling Ammo Business To CSG
• Czechs Offer Even More Money For Vista

The deal that wouldn’t go through

In case you just got here, here’s the story so far: After buying up all sorts of shooting-related businesses, U.S.-based conglomerate Vista Outdoors is now turning around and selling them off. The plan to do this was announced all the way back in 2018, but with the interference of pesky things like COVID-19, the plan has taken a while.

The first big domino to fall was Savage Arms; Vista Outdoors sold off Savage and its sub-brands in 2019. But the biggest news came in the fall of 2023 when the investors of the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) announced they wanted to buy Vista’s ammunition production business for $2B.

Of course, considering this includes a significant part of America’s arms industry, including military supply chains, there were regulatory hoops to jump through.

Nevertheless, the deal eventually was approved by everyone who needed to approve it, including Vista Outdoors’ board, who told shareholders they should vote in favor at the end of July—but that didn’t happen. As the process dragged on, CSG continued to up its offer, eventually saying they’d pay $2.15B on the Kinetic Group, the Vista subsidiary that controls the ammo business. Still, at the end of July, no deal was made.

Another delay

Why was the vote canceled? Reportedly, Gates Capital Management, one of the largest shareholders in Vista Outdoors (almost 10 percent) is opposed to the deal with CSG and wants to further explore offers from MNC Capital.

MNC Capital previously offered $3B for the whole of Vista Outdoors, not just the Kinetic Group subsidiary that CSG wanted to buy. The deal with CSG would see Vista hanging on to its outdoors recreation subsidiary, Revelyst. Gates Capital Management appears to want to sell everything at once, and that’s what MNC wants to buy.

Now, in the face of the canceled vote, Vista’s leadership (see their release here) says it will re-engage with MNC, to work on a better offer from that end, while CSG is reportedly looking at putting together an offer that includes Revelyst. Don’t expect any of this to happen quickly; it looks like this saga might go on for months yet.