The Czechoslovak Group (CSG), based in Prague, Czech Republic, acquired the stock and took private ownership of the ammunition side previously of Vista Outdoor, known as The Kinetic Group, on Nov. 27, 2024. It is comprised of Federal Premium Ammunition of Anoka, Minn., Remington Ammunition of Lonoke Ark., and Speer and CCI Ammunition in Lewiston, Ida. The deal also included Alliant Powder and HEVI-Shot. The non-ammunition products of Vista split into a stand-alone public company, Revelyst at the time of the CSG acquisition.
Taking The Kinetic Group to its eventual acquisition by CSG took more than 900 days, and the price tag was north of $2 billion. The CSG group is 100 percent owned by Michael Strnad and employs more than 10,000 people worldwide in the defense, aerospace, ammunition, mobility and business sectors. It makes everything from watches to trucks to radars. It also owns Fiocchi Munizioni in Italy and Fiocchi of America, and the well-respected Italian shotgun maker Perazzi. CSG has no ties to Russia, and it is a defense supplier to Ukraine and to NATO nations (including the United States). To learn more about CSG, you can watch this interview with David Stepan, managing director of CSG’s Ammunition Division and Fiocchi’s David Blenker.
But what does this mean for NRA members, American consumers and the employees that go to work every day at three of America’s largest ammunition manufacturing facilities? Editorial Director Mark Keefe sat down with Jason Vanderbrink, CEO and chairman of The Kinetic Group—and the man that engineered Remington Ammunition’s revival and recovery—to find out what you need to know. Vanderbrink is an industry veteran, a serious hunter and a proud Benefactor Life member of NRA.
MK: Let me let me start with what is CSG group? What do you know about these guys?
JVB: Czechoslovak Group is a defense airspace company, an industrial conglomerate that owns a lot of a lot of businesses and has just a stellar reputation. Good stewards of capital, good stewards of local communities, just a fantastic fit for our company.
MK: Anytime you end up with new ownership, people will speculate on what that change really means. It's not like you're picking up the manufacturing plants in Anoka, Minn., Lonoke, Ark., or Lewiston, Ida., and taking them to Prague, right?
JVB: Nothing is going to change as far as operations go in the United States. You don't spend more than $2 billion and disrupt the business. All CSG wants to do is invest in the business and grow the business. There's lots of rumors out there that they would they move operations. Not true. It makes no sense, you know, we can't even give it the airtime because it doesn't deserve any airtime. It's just nonsensical thinking.
MK: How does The Kinetic Group (TKG) fit in within the CSG portfolio?
JVB: The Kinetic Group falls into the Ammo+ division, which is the same group that Fiocchi resides, reporting up to the board of directors of CSG as a whole. Think of it as a business unit, not unlike what we had at Vista as business unit, that rolls up through the corporate hierarchy.
MK: All kinds of rumors fly around CSG. I've met with them. You’ve met with them even more. What about these rumors about foreign ownership of iconic American brands Federal Premium, Remington Ammunition and CCI?
JVB: I think it's a great opportunity for growth of our businesses. And I always remind everyone, when we talk foreign ownership, you can look at SIG Sauer, Glock, FN and Browning. Colt, even. There are iconic U.S. brands that have foreign ownership, but manufacture in the United States. I don't view this any differently, and I view that as long as we're in private ownership, that is where we need to be proud and thankful that we're out of the public markets now. And whether its foreign-owned or not, to me, it’s the best thing for these brands.
MK: These brands were publicly traded for years, having to watch market reports and stock price, what are the benefits of being privately held?
JVB: Your business and you can think much longer term. I mean, we don't have quarterly earnings where we have to drive business results every 90 days for the analysts. You can actually think long term and more strategically of how you grow the business. How do you want to run the business? What are your key performance indicators? Being private versus public, your time horizon is longer than 90 days. And I don't want to slam being a public company, being a public company has been good for us. Our board was tremendous under Vista to support what we wanted to do, what we wanted to accomplish. At this juncture in our company, being private is certainly better than public.
MK: How things are going to run in the United States? Is management changing? Are you staying personally? What's happening?
JVB: There are no management changes. We have been doing this for over a year now. One of the reasons we love CSG is there are zero management changes. Like I said, they're spending a lot of money, so they are not going to disrupt the business. So, first and foremost, it’s business as usual. How do we improve the business? But no management changes. And that was that was important because we have the best employees in the world, and they want certainty. They're used to me and my team, and that certainly weighed into what we thought about the CSG opportunity as well. And just so you know, that process it took more than a year.
MK: How was going through that process? Were the guys from the plant nervous? How did the company as a whole view that aspect of the transfer of ownership?
JVB: Let me just get this number right for you, because it's a pretty fascinating, at least for me. On May 5, 2022, we announced we were splitting up our company with The Kinetic Group separate from Vista. We closed this transaction with CSG on November 27, 2024, so we were in a state of flux for 937 days. From the start, we were going to go public, we were going to be a standalone, public company. We obviously had interest from multiple buyers, we had government approvals, we had shareholder approvals, it was 937 days of uncertainty. Even though folks knew, this wasn't a big a factor in their daily jobs. It was still in the back of their minds, uncertainty. And employees don't like uncertainty, nor should they. So this brings certainty after 937 days. What can consumers, your readers, NRA members, what can they expect to see? Availability of product, stability, literally, the status quo. But we're going to invest in the businesses in the United States in areas of focus where we want, and we're not going to publicize what our strategies are going be, but consumers and employees should expect no changes.
MK: As you were going through this process, you saw what CSG was doing with your colleagues at Fiocchi. What did you think of the changes that have been made over there?
JVB: I'm tremendous fan of David Blenker. I've known David forever, and they have a great guy at the helm of Fiocchi of America. I go back to the fact that this is a world-class company that bought us, run by really good people. It's just all of the rumors and all of the fallacies that I've read about over the last 900 days, obviously, when we're going through the process that, unfortunately, played out in the public arena. There was a lot of information that wasn't true, but we just sometimes could not respond. I hope your members understand, and the proof will be in the pudding that this is going to be a great thing for the U.S. consumer, the U.S. market and most importantly our employees.
MK: What else do you think people need to know?
JVB: They just need to know that the company is in great hands. There will be no operations switched overseas. It will actually be the opposite. It's investing in American factories, American workers, and how do we win more market share? How do we create more jobs? How do we become more innovative? We expect we will get a better business, a better-run business. And that should be better for everyone, employees and consumers alike.
