Vista Outdoor again postpones vote on ammunition business sale

Vista Outdoor shareholders were set to vote Tuesday on the company’s plan to sell its ammunition business, but once again adjourned without a decision.

The company is weighing whether to sell the Kinetic Group to the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) for $2.15 billion. An original May 16 special shareholder meeting was postponed throughout June and July and is now set for Sept. 13. In the meantime, Vista said it will explore all of its options for its outdoor product company, Revelyst, which operates 32 brands including Foresight Sports, Camp Chef, CamelBak, Simms Fishing and Fox.

“We recognize the continuing support received from many of our stockholders for the CSG transaction and the feedback from some of our stockholders with respect to other strategic alternatives,” Mike Callahan, chair of Vista Outdoor’s board of directors, said in a news release. “We take the views of our stockholders very seriously and believe it is prudent to evaluate all strategic alternatives.”

The Vista board in October selected CSG’s offer of $1.91 billion. The bid needed to pass standard regulatory approvals and the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which it has.

Vista will continue to communicate with CSG about its bid to acquire the Kinetic Group, which includes Federal and the 1,500 employees who work at Federal’s Anoka plant, Remington, Speer, CCI and others. CSG raised its bid several times and is now apparently considering an acquisition of Revelyst as well.

Vista will also engage with U.S.-based investment group MNC Capital over its $42 a share offer to acquire all of Vista Outdoor, including the Kinetic Group and Revelyst. MNC Capital has made several offers and has said it would not lower its bid. MNC is leaving open the possibility it would raise its bid if there was a basis to do so.

Vista will also revisit its initial plan, announced in May 2022, to spin off both the Kinetic Group and Revelyst as independent public companies. Gates Capital, Vista’s second-largest shareholder, expressed in a letter to the Vista board that it found the original spinoff plan attractive because of its tax-free implications

The move to adjourn the shareholder meeting again may have also been influenced by another institutional shareholder of Vista Outdoor. In an unusual move Monday, GAMCO Asset Management issued a news release and a letter to the Vista board saying it would vote against the CSG deal.

The influential proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have changed their recommendations over time and ahead of Tuesday’s vote were split, with Glass Lewis recommending shareholders vote for the CSG deal and ISS recommending shareholders vote against it.

Shares of Vista Outdoor closed at $40.80 a share Tuesday, up 5.1%.