For more than two years, the industry has watched as Vista Outdoors worked to divide itself into a pair of freestanding companies. The goal was simple: unlock the unrecognized value in the non-gun parts of the behemoth. It seems counter-intuitive to those of us in the outdoor industry, but Wall Street analysts and investors repeatedly undervalue companies with “gun” components.

Guns, in case you haven’t noticed, are popular with just about everyone except “progressive” politicians…and investment groups that share those same opinions.

But divide Vista did…finally. Creating Revelyst for the plethora of non-gun companies and The Kinetic Group for CCI, Federal, Remington, Hevi-Shot and Speer. Along the way, Vista also realized there was more than sufficient private interest in The Kinetic Group to make more money for shareholders (the ultimate goal of every public company) by selling it.

That’s when the industry-equivalent of a soap opera started. A long and rancorous bidding war ensued, with CSG, the Czechoslovakian conglomerate, eventually winning the battle for The Kinetic Group. A second transaction, conditioned on the successful sale of Kinetic, will see investment group Strategic Value Partners acquiring Revelyst. That transaction is currently “on track” to close by January, 2025.

Ultimately, shareholders will be seeing more than $3.5 billion dollars in proceeds- or approximately $45/per share of their original Vista Outdoor stock.

The Kinetic Group includes a number of familiar brands. Brands new owner CSG says will stay true to their U.S. roots -and leadership. Screenshot with permission.

Today, the smoke’s not entirely cleared, but CSG/Kinetic leadership is moving -quickly-to get the integration and maximization of their newest properties blended into their holdings.

In today’s edition of QA Outdoors, you can read our long-form interview with The Kinetic Group’s Chairman and CEO, Jason Vanderbrink. That conversation should assuage many of the concerns expressed by consumers over the “foreign ownership” of formerly U.S. companies.

On Tuesday, I talked with David Stepan, CSG’s CEO of their ammunition business -including their newly-acquired Kinetic facilities in Minnesota, Arkansas, Idaho and Oregon. CSG already owns a majority position in Italian/U.S. ammunition maker Fiocchi, including their manufacturing facilities in Little Rock, Arkansas. The conversation with Stepan focused on positives CSG saw-and still sees-in the acquisition.

“We’re excited,” Stepan told me, “there’s a willingness to cooperate on both continents that make it exciting for everyone.”

A large part of that excitement is the recognition of some obvious short-term efficiencies.

Today, for example, Fiocchi (U.S.) exports components for their ammunition from the company’s manufacturing facilities in Italy. Those components are shipped by boat in containers from Italy.

Those shipments, according to Stepan, require “a minimum of four weeks.”

Vertically integrating components already being manufactured at Kinetic facilities in the United States could significantly shorten that time-to-market. It would also eliminate the costs in time, money and the company’s overall carbon footprint.

“In Europe, there’s a big focus on CO2,” Stepan explained, “reducing our footprint is important. Here in the United States, we now have companies that are vertically integrated, producing all their own components. If we can integrate those components into the Fiocchi/U.S. business, we cut down shipping via boat from Italy. Cutting down on shipping saves us both time and money, and reduces our footprint.”

For CSG, the focus isn’t on individual companies, it’s on the overall efficiency of a global conglomerate that includes engineering, automotive, rail, aerospace and defense companies employing more than 10,000 people. Addition of The Kinetic Group adds small arms ammunition production and 3,800 additional employees, along with $1.5 billion in annual revenues.

In fact, Stepan told me the manufacturing experts he brought along for a tour of all The Kinetic Group facilities this week were pleased with what they were seeing. And CSG has maintained the philosophical position that its goal wasn’t to change how companies operated unless the changes brought obvious benefits.

“We look at markets as a whole,” he explained, “ultimately, our goal is to get ammunition to the customers.”
That, he said, would mean looking for “centers of excellence” among the various companies, and examining a “lot of moving parts.” As far as to what that analysis would uncover, Stepan was quick to admit there’s “no answer yet, but the next business cycles are important for us in the military and civilian markets.”

Our conversation with Jason Vanderbrink of The Kinetic Group echoed Stepan’s position. He was quick to tease us with the fact that Kinetic would be releasing “game-changing technology” in a new product premiering in just a few weeks at SHOT Show 2025.

As always, we’re watching, and we’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd