Alliant Techsystems to name sporting spinoff Vista Outdoor

Alliant Techsystems Inc.'s soon-to-be-spun-off sporting ammunition business will be renamed Vista Outdoor, according to documents filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Vista Outdoor sporting division will become a stand-alone public company early next year after Alliant Techsystems merges its defense and satellite businesses with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp.

Alliant's defense and space business will be named Orbital ATK and generate about $4.5 billion in annual revenue. Its sporting ammunition business will become Vista Outdoor and have about $2.2 billion in sales. The plan to create the two independent public companies via the spinoff and merger was announced in April. Shareholders will vote on the plan Jan. 27.

If approved, the changes would happen in February.

Alliant Techsystems also informed regulators this week that Vista Outdoor has entered into a five-year credit agreement for a $350 million senior secured term loan and a $400 million revolving credit facility. Part of the proceeds are expected to be used to pay down a portion of Alliant's debt. Vista Outdoor will be spun off and no longer be a subsidiary of Alliant Techsystems, officials said.

Alliant was based in Eden Prairie until 2011, when it moved its headquarters to Arlington, Va. Alliant still has about 200 workers in Eden Prairie and separately operates the Federal Cartridge ammunition plant in Anoka.

Alliant entered the sporting goods business in 2001 and then grew it with the help of acquisitions and a surge in demand for police, hunting and civilian ammunition.

The sporting group, which sells products under the brands Federal Premium, Bushnell, Savage Arms, Blackhawk, Primos, Final Approach and others, has helped Alliant Techsystems stabilize revenue in recent years as the U.S. military dramatically cut spending and curtailed its activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Including both sporting and military sales, Alliant is the world's largest manufacturer of small-caliber ammunition. Once split, the Vista Outdoor sporting business is expected to be run out of Utah, officials said.

The rest of Alliant, which makes missiles, rocket boosters and satellite parts, will merge with Orbital Sciences and be run out of Virginia. That pending merger was threatened in October after the explosion of an unmanned rocket built by Orbital. The Antares rocket was scheduled to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, but exploded on liftoff on Oct. 28. The disaster caused Alliant officials to pause, saying they needed time to review whether to proceed with a merger.

Last month, they decided the Orbital merger was still a go.

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725