Remington Pieces Sold Off, But Iconic Brands Will Live On

Roundhill Group will continue firearms brand, Vista Outdoors following suit with ammunition business.

October 02, 2020 By Lynn Burkhead

While the breakup and sale of bankrupt Remington Outdoors has taken place as reported in this space a few days ago, financial lifelines to the company’s various components appear to give the iconic brand hope for new life.

For Remington Firearms, that comes through its purchase by Roundhill Group, LLC, an investment company with offices in Pennsylvania and Florida.

According to a news report on the SGB Media website, Roundhill Group has announced its purchase of Remington Firearms, a sale that includes the company’s long guns, shotguns, pistols, and manufacturing facilities. The sale even includes Remington’s museum and gift shop, a virtually complete transfer of assets in the company’s firearms division.

Jeff Edwards, a partner and spokesperson for Roundhill Group, made it clear in a statement that the company plans to keep the Remington Firearms brand alive and well in the future.

“As is known, Roundhill Group LLC and a group of experienced firearms manufacturing and hunting industry professionals are in the process of purchasing Remington Firearms,” said Edwards in a press release statement.

“Our intent with this acquisition is to return the company to its traditional place as an iconic American hunting brand,” he continued. “We intend to maintain, care for and nurture the brand and all of the dedicated employees who have crafted these products over the years for outdoorsmen and women both here in the USA and abroad.

“More than anything, we want to make Remington a household name that is spoken with pride.”

While many in the firearms and hunting industries might argue that such a lofty position has already been achieved by the company’s 200+ year history, Edwards left no doubt about Roundhill Group’s intentions going forward.

“The Roundhill Group is comprised of a group of individuals all of whom have years of experience in engineering, manufacturing and marketing both in and outside of the firearms space,” he said. “They are all life-long hunting advocates and staunch Remington brand loyalists. They will work tirelessly to ensure that this company takes its rightful place as the iconic American brand that it was and still is.”

In addition to Roundhill Group’s acquisition of Remington Firearms, several other key components of the company have found new homes as well.

For Remington’s huge ammunition business, outdoors giant Vista Outdoors, the parent company of Federal Premium Ammunition, is the winning bidder for Big Green’s ammo business.

According to a Vista Outdoors press release, the Minnesota-based company will "acquire certain assets related to ROC's ammunition and accessories businesses, including ROC's ammunition manufacturing facility in Lonoke, Arkansas and related intellectual property, including the Remington brand and trademarks. Vista Outdoor has agreed to pay a gross purchase price of $81.4 million for the assets to be acquired, subject to certain customary closing adjustments."

"Remington ammunition and accessories have a storied role in America's sporting heritage, with a legacy dating back to 1816," said Chris Metz, Vista Outdoor chief executive officer, in the news release. "We are excited and honored to add the iconic Remington brand and green box to Vista Outdoors’s portfolio of ammunition brands, and Remington accessories to our portfolio of Hunting and Shooting Accessories. The Remington brand is beloved by hunting and shooting sports enthusiasts everywhere and we look forward to restoring it to greatness by leveraging Vista Outdoors’s scale, manufacturing infrastructure, distribution channels and Centers of Excellence."

According to Metz, Vista Outdoors plans to continue Remington's ammunition business, preserve the brand, and help many people stay employed.

"We see a clear path to value creation," said Metz. "With our deep expertise and resources, we can transform Remington's ammunition and accessories businesses to create a more efficient, profitable and sustainable operation. At the same time, by rescuing the Remington ammunition businesses from bankruptcy, we will protect hundreds of jobs, support wildlife and habitat conservation and ensure that hunting and shooting sports enthusiasts can continue to purchase their favorite ammunition and accessories.

"We look at this acquisition as a means of better serving millions of consumers with the products they love from one of the country's original and best-known brands, while furthering Vista Outdoors’s mission of being a powerhouse of passionate outdoor sports and recreation brands."Pending final bankruptcy court approval, Vista Outdoor expects to close the transaction early in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2021.One other big piece of Remington's business holdings, Marlin Firearms, has also found a new home this week.That news came when Sturm, Ruger and Company, Inc. announced that its offer to purchase virtually all of the Marlin Firearms assets had been accepted by Remington Outdoor Company, Inc. and approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Terms of the sale were also announced in the Ruger press release, which noted that the company would pay a $30 million purchase price for Marlin — which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year —from cash on hand at the time of closing, which is expected to occur sometime this month.

"The value of Marlin and its 150-year legacy was too great of an opportunity for us to pass up," said Ruger President and CEO Chris Killoy in a news release. "The brand aligns perfectly with ours and the Marlin product portfolio will help us widen our already diverse product offerings."

Ruger noted that the transaction is exclusively for the Marlin Firearms assets. Once the purchase is completed, Ruger said it will begin the process of relocating the Marlin Firearms assets to existing Ruger manufacturing facilities.

"The important thing for consumers, retailers and distributors to know at this point in time is that the Marlin brand and its great products will live on. Long Live the Lever Gun," said Killoy.

For purists in the firearms and outdoors industry, it might be a tough pill to swallow that one of America's most iconic gun making brands has fallen on such hard times in a year when gun and ammo sales are skyrocketing. But the good news this week seems to be that the valuable assets of Big Green will live on, albeit with new owners.

While it remains to be seen if, and how, Remington's well known rifles, shotguns, handguns, centerfire ammunition, rimfire ammo, and shotgun shells--along with Marlin's various firearms—will change, at least there's more hope for their continuance today than there appeared to be just a few weeks ago.

To play on the words of Killoy’s quote above, the firearms making king Remington was recently reported to dead, long live the king. But as of now, rumors of that industry power’s demise appear to have been exaggerated as various components of the Big Green brand will apparently live on.

Long live the king, indeed.