(This story was updated on 12/1/2023.)
Vista Outdoor announced that its board of directors has rejected the unsolicited proposal it received on Nov. 22 from Colt CZ Group to buy the company.
Firearm maker Colt CZ Group offered to buy Vista for $30 per share, or $1.74 billion, which would have scrapped the deal announced earlier this year to sell Vista’s sporting products/ammunition business to Czechoslovak Group (CSG) and spin off Vista’s outdoor segment into a new company called Revelyst.
In a letter to Colt CZ, Vista’s interim CEO at the time Gary McArthur said the offer would not be better for Vista’s stockholders than the deal to sell to CSG.
New Co-CEOs
In other Vista news this week, the company announced on Friday that McArthur had stepped down and appointed Eric Nyman and Jason Vanderbrink as co-CEOs.
Nyman had served as CEO of the outdoor products segment of the company since August.
Nyman was previously CEO and president of Hasbro, Inc, where he worked for 19 years. Nyman also has experience in the outdoor industry, serving in brand management and marketing roles for outdoor apparel and footwear brand Timberland for three years before he joined Hasbro.
Vanderbrink has served as CEO of the sporting products segment of the company since April.
Vista had originally said that McArthur would stay on as interim CEO until the two segments were split.
Vista’s board also appointed Andrew Keegan as chief financial officer of Vista until the spinoff is completed, when he’ll become CFO of Revelyst.
Board Says Offers Undervalues Company
Vista’s board said Colt’s offer “significantly” undervalued the company, lacked adequate detail about the $30-per-share valuation, and didn’t take into account “the significant stockholder value that is expected to be created by the separation of the outdoor products and sporting products segments.”
The board also said the proposal did not provide adequate details about how the debt and equity financing would work and didn’t include any binding commitments for that financing.
“The Vista Outdoor Board continues to recommend the acquisition of the sporting products business by CSG and remains committed to acting in the best interests of Vista Outdoor stockholders,” McArthur wrote.
The acquisition of the sporting products business by CSG is expected to close in calendar year 2024, subject to approval of Vista Outdoor’s stockholders, receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions.
In October, Vista announced it was selling its sporting products business, which focuses on making and selling ammunition, to CSG for $1.91 billion. It would spin off Revelyst into its own company when the sale closes.
Revelyst’s portfolio of brands would include Fox, Bell, Giro, CamelBak, Camp Chef, Bushnell, and Simms Fishing.
As part of the unsolicited offer, Jan Drahota, CEO and Chairman of Colt CZ, said in a letter to Vista’s board that the proposal would “recapture shareholder value that has been lost over the 18 months since the initial announcement of your intent to spin off the Outdoor Products segment.”
