Vista sets a date for the Czechoslovak Group vote

Elaine Williams, Lewiston Tribune, Idaho
·3 min read

Mar. 23—The parent company of the CCI/Speer ammunition-making operations in Lewiston has scheduled a date for its stockholders to vote on a proposed deal with the Czechoslovak Group.

Vista Outdoor shareholders will meet virtually at 11 a.m. PDT on May 16 to vote on the $1.91 billion offer by the Czechoslovak Group to acquire Vista Outdoor's ammunition-making operations according to a Friday news release from Vista Outdoor. Shareholders of record April 1 are eligible to vote.

If the sale closes, Vista Outdoor's ammunition segment, which is called The Kinetic Group, will become part of a privately held company. Vista Outdoor's ammunition brands are CCI, Speer, Federal, Remington and HEVI-Shot. They employ about 1,400 people in Lewiston and 4,000 altogether.

The shareholder vote is one of the steps in the process of the sale.

Vista Outdoor is in the last stages of obtaining clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, said Eric Nyman, chief executive officer of Revelyst, according to a portion of a transcript of a Vista Outdoor presentation at a Monday financial conference shared in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Revelyst is the name of the standalone, publicly traded company that is being formed for Vista Outdoor's recreation brands such as Camelbak and Camp Chef.

"We feel good about where that's going and hopefully we'll have some news to share in the next few weeks on that," Nyman said. "So we feel like the separation is on track."

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States "is an interagency committee authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the U.S. and certain real estate transactions by foreign persons, in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States," according to the website of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The secretary of the treasury is the chairperson of the committee that also includes the heads of eight departments and agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.

"(Czechoslovak Group's) ownership of our American-based ammunition brands will provide the communities where our plants are located and our 4,000 workers here in the United States and The Kinetic Group's experienced US-based executive management team with a steady, long-term owner that is fully committed to investing in the American workforce," according to the Vista Outdoor news release.

While Vista Outdoor's executives pursue the sale of its ammunition-making operations to the Czechoslovak Group, they're also working on turning Revelyst into a standalone, publicly traded company.

The U.S. Securities and Exhange Commission has declared the registration statement of Revelyst effective, according to the Vista Outdoor news release.

"(This) is a key achievement in Vista Outdoor's strategic plan to unlock shareholder value by separating its Revelyst and The Kinetic Group segments into separate companies," according to the Vista Outdoor news release.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.