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Alliant Techsystems (ATK), entered the ammunition and outdoor products business in 2001. ATK grew through acquisitions and a large increase in demand for ammunition for police, hunting, and other private uses.
ATK told its regulators in December 2014 that it intended first to merge its defense and satellite businesses with Orbital Sciences, and then spin off its sporting goods and ammunition business as a stand-alone public company to be named Vista Outdoor. Vista Outdoor signed an agreement for a $350 million secured loan with a term of five years and a $400 million revolving line of credit. Proceeds were partially used to pay down debt. ATK and Orbital Sciences filed a joint proxy statement and prospectus describing the share issuance with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 17, 2014. The same month, the Department of Justice approved to the merger and spinoff.
ATK spun-off Vista Outdoor after merging with Orbital Sciences and became Orbital ATK on February 9, 2015. Anyone holding ATK common stock at the end of the business day on February 2, 2015, received two shares of Vista Outdoor common stock. Eligible shareholders had their brokerage account credited or received a book-entry account statement reflecting their ownership. Vista Outdoor was thus initially 100% owned by ATK shareholders. Vista Outdoor stock traded on a "when-issued" basis from January 29, 2015, to February 9, 2015. It began "regular way" trading on the New York Stock Exchange on February 10, 2015, under the ticker symbol "VSTO." Shareholders were not required to make any payment or take action of any kind. This transaction was conducted on a tax-free basis. U.S. shareholders generally did not have to recognize a gain or loss for federal tax purposes.
On February 25, 2016, BRG Sports announced its acceptance of a $400-million cash and
earn-out deal to sell its "Action Sports" business to Vista Outdoor. Vista gained control of the Bell Sports, Giro, Blackburn, and C-Preme brands.
On May 1, 2018, Vista Outdoor announced that it would consider selling its gun manufacturing subsidiaries and Bell, Giro, Blackburn, and Jimmy Styks, to focus on its core brands for outdoors enthusiasts. Months earlier, Vista announced that it was attempting to sell eyewear brands Bolle, Serengeti, and Cebe. The company said its move out of the firearms business had nothing to do with recent boycotts. CEO Christopher Metz said the move had been planned in advance and that Savage Arms and Stevens would require too much investment to rectify their lack of handguns, which make up half the gun market in the US. Metz said he expects the asset sales to be completed by the 2020 fiscal year. Metz said the company would focus heavily on what it called its "heritage ammunition business."
Vista Outdoor announced on July 9, 2018, that it had reached an agreement with a European private equity fund to sell the Bollé, Cébé and Serengeti eyewear brands.
On July 9, 2019, Vista Outdoor completed the sale of Savage Arms and Stevens Arms for $170 million to a group of investors led by Savage's management. Vista received immediate gross proceeds of $158 million and a $12-million five-year note. Vista said it will use this money, after paying associated taxes, to reduce its debt.
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On October 13, 2020, Vista Outdoor acquired certain assets related to Remington Outdoor Company's ammunition and accessories businesses, including Remington's Lonoke, Arkansas, manufacturing facility and the Remington brand and trademarks, for $81.4 million. Vista Outdoor used a combination of approximately $51 million of cash on hand and approximately $30 million from its asset-based revolving credit facility to complete this transaction.
In July 2022, Vista Outdoor announced that it would be acquiring Fox Racing for $540 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023. Later, Vista Outdoor also announced its intent to split into different companies with new names and stock symbol; One company will focus on sporting goods while the other will focus on ammunition and firearms accessories.
After the resignation of Chris Metz in early 2023, Vista Outdoor board member Gary McArthur was named interim CEO.
In October 2023, the company announced that it would spin off its outdoor products segment into a separate publicly traded company called Revelyst and its firearms and ammunition business will be sold off to Czech company Czechoslovak Group for a value of $1.91 billion, pending regulatory approval. Vista's sale to CSG has been protested by senators JD Vance, John Kennedy, representative Clay Higgins and National Sheriffs' Association.
In November 2024, Vista Outdoor completed the separation of its outdoor products business into an independent, publicly traded company, Revelyst (NYSE: GEAR), and the shooting products business, known as The Kinetic Group, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Czechoslovak Group for the price of $2.23bn.
In January 2025, Revelyst was acquired by Strategic Value Partners, LLC in an all-cash transaction based on an enterprise value of $1.125 billion.
Financial results
On January 11, 2017, Vista Outdoor disclosed that it expected to record "a material asset impairment charge in its hunting and shooting accessories reporting unit" for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2017. Vista reported that "the Company's preliminary analysis indicates the impairment charge will be in the range of $400 million to $450 million."
For fiscal year 2019, Vista Outdoor had sales of $2.1 billion. It lost $648 million. Vista reduced its debt load from $738 million to $581 million due to its sale of Savage Arms.
Response to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine
Responding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call for ammunition after Russia invaded Ukraine, Vista Outdoor, supplier of ammunition to Ukraine's military since 2015, pledged to donate 1 million rounds of small-caliber ammunition to the country's armed forces. Vista's ammunition companies Federal and Remington also started selling T-shirts on their websites to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.
From Wikipedia’s article on Vista Outdoor, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5