Sale Of Savage Arms
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 5 months ago
Savage Arms has been sold. Providing further news and perspective on this sale, American Rifleman.
More than a year after Vista Outdoor raised eyebrows by placing its Savage Arms business unit on the block, completion of the sale was announced July 8. Press releases from Vista listed the total purchase price as $170 million and said that the buyer—Long Range Acquisition LLC, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing—is a “group of investors headed by Savage President and CEO Al Kasper.”
When Vista’s intentions regarding Savage became known last spring, some pro-gun commentators reflexively feared that the Minnesota-based conglomerate was abandoning the firearm industry amid a wave of craven corporate virtue-signaling in the wake of the Parkland tragedy. As it turned out, the Savage divesture was part of a larger, ongoing strategy by Vista to reduce debt by selling assets outside of its core business of ammunition, optics and other shooting and hunting accessories. At the time, newly arrived Vista CEO Chris Metz told American Rifleman, “I’m a big believer that new products are the lifeblood of our industry, that the reason someone goes out and buys a new 20-gauge shotgun or .30-‘06 hunting rifle is probably not because they truly need one, but because whatever is new is news. All of our brands are vying for funds to feed product innovation. We sat down, took stock and strategically laid out which brands and which businesses we think we can invest in and grow.”
It makes no difference to me whether Savage Arms is owned by Vista Outdoor or someone else, as long as that someone else doesn’t do what was done to Remington (unload debt, suck off the resources via “financial engineering” tactics).
It sounds like this might be a good move if the Savage President and CEO heads the group, but we may have to wait and see.
I consider Savage to be one of the best large firearm manufacturers left. I’d like to see them stay strong.
On July 16, 2019 at 2:33 am, Dan said:
The buying and looting of companies like Remington etc. may well be a tactic of the gun grabbing left. The rationale being if a company goes belly up they can no longer make those ‘evil guns’ to sell. There is a manufacturer that had a substantial amount of it’s stock purchased by an order of Catholic Nuns….who now attempt to pressure the people running said company into adopting all sorts of things that ultimately keep people from owning quality firearms. It would be just ONE of the countless ways
the left attempts to seize control over every aspect of life they can.