(Reuters) – Vista Outdoor said on Friday Czechoslovak Group (CSG) has agreed to buy a 7.5% stake in its sporting gear unit for $150 million as part of a larger deal to acquire the company’s arms business.
The Prague-based defense firm’s proposed offer for Revelyst, Vista’s outdoor sporting gear business, values the unit at $2 billion. Vista has favored bids from CSG even as it has battled with takeover offers from private equity firm MNC Capital that Vista has rejected on multiple occasions.
When the revised CSG deal closes, Vista shareholders would receive $28 per share in cash and one share of Revelyst common stock for each share of Vista. That increases the cash component of the Kinetic Group deal by $4 per share.
The revised deal values Kinetic Group at $2.15 billion.
Following the closing of the CSG transaction, Revelyst is planning a $50 million share buyback program.
Vista put the sporting gear business on the block in July, after earlier agreeing to sell its ammunition unit to CSG.
CSG has raised its bid for Kinetic Group several times since its initial offer in October.
MNC entered the race in March this year, and then earlier this month, it raised its bid for Vista to $43 per share, valuing the company at more than $3.2 billion. MNC made the offer despite substantial market headwinds for consumer spending and weaker quarterly results from Vista, it said then.
Vista said on Friday MNC’s latest offer “significantly undervalues” Kinetic Group and Revelyst compared to the CSG offer. MNC Capital declined to comment.
The months-long saga to buy the parent of Federal Ammunition and Remington Ammunition has played out as demand for military supplies has risen since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022.
Vista’s special shareholder meeting to vote on deal proposals is scheduled to take place on Sept. 27, after being delayed twice.
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry and Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)