
The deal for Czechoslovak Group (CSG) to buy Vista Outdoors’ ammo unit could have hit another roadblock with the federal government.
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment into the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS is currently reviewing the deal between the US-based Vista Outdoors and Czech Republic-based CSG. The Republican Senator. says he is deeply concerned for national security. He has urgently urged the Treasury Department to reject the deal. His concern is rooted in the potential for a foreign company to control a significant 70% of all primers on the market if the deal is allowed to go through, a scenario that could have serious implications for our nation’s security, according to Sen. Kennedy.
The Senator is concerned that CSG’s market share on primers will hurt ammunition supplies to the U.S. military and state and federal law enforcement agencies. Sen. Kennedy claims that CSG has dealt with US foreign adversaries, including China. He is concerned that the deal could give China influence over the supply of primers. The Senator did not highlight any deals that CSG has with any enemy of the United States.
“Further complicating this matter, questions have arisen in recent weeks related to CSG’s relationships with China. It appears the company has taken actions to obscure its past relationships with China and insist it has no current relationships with our adversaries,”the senator continued.
“For these reasons, I request CFIUS to carefully examine national security concerns of the proposed acquisition, specifically concerning the potential impact of the transaction on the U.S. military and law enforcement’s reliable access to an affordable supply of primers and ammunition, and the company’s attempts to obfuscate its relationship with China,” Kennedy concluded.
Sen. Kennedy isn’t the only member of Congress sounding the alarm on the sale. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) has also written a letter to CFIUS asking it to block the sale for many of the same reasons, including CSG’s being linked to the Kremlin. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, has also echoed some of the same talking points as his Republican colleagues. However, none of the Congress members could give any examples of deals with China or any other adversaries. The only dealings with any foreign adversaries that AmmoLand News has been able to turn up were another division of CSG selling of mining equipment to a private company inside Russia before any sanctions were in place. This sale wasn’t a military sale and was before the invasion of Ukraine.
CSG has not remained silent in the face of these accusations. The company has publicly stated that it has never engaged in business with China, Russia, or any other US adversary. CSG asserts that it is currently a major supplier of ammunition to NATO countries in Europe and has been supporting Ukrainian forces with ammo to counter the Russian invasion. The company also highlights that some of its high-level US-based employees hold federal security clearances, a privilege that would not be granted if CSG did business with Russia, China, or any US non-ally. This response from CSG provides a different perspective on the issue.
“Considering the above, any speculation about the CSG’s connection to the Putin regime should be considered nonsense. We nevertheless explicitly note that CSG has never had any ties to Putin’s regime, and there is no reason why we would have such ties, given that we have never supplied any defense products to Russia. Past export of our civilian products – namely trucks for the mining industry – was negligible, and after the outbreak of Russian aggression against Ukraine, it was unilaterally terminated by us. CSG has also never violated any arms embargo and has never been investigated for doing so, let alone sanctioned,” CSG responded to Sen. Vance.
Some believe that the misinformation is an attempt to block the deal and force the sale of Vista Outdoors to MNC Capital Partners, an investment firm that includes former Vista board member Mark Gottfredson. After the CSG deal was announced, MNC Capital Partners offered to buy all of Vista Outdoors for $3 billion through a stock buyout. Vista Outdoors rejected the investment company’s bid and continued with the agreement it reached with CSG to buy the ammunition division.
The CFIUS review process takes 45 days, but it could be extended to 60 days if the committee feels it needs more time. This extension isn’t likely. The deal has already gone through one review period, but it agreed to voluntarily withdraw its initial filing and refiled on March 28 to give the CFIUS more time to review the sale. If the CFIUS approves the deal, Vista Outdoor’s shareholders will vote on the sales agreement with CSG on May 16.
About John Crump
John is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Part of this looks like business as usual for congress. It is normal for our beloved patriotic elected representatives to make bold and dramatic claims about national security but to be completely unable to support those bold claims with any facts when asked for details. That much is normal. This also sound like an orchestrated opposition to the sale. Here we have multiple members of congress making identical claims that they cannot back up. Someone told them that CSG was dealing with China. The fact that they jumped in with both feet without even bothering to have a staffer get… Read more »
First, I won’t pretend to know business law or all (any) of the particulars of the potential sale nor the portion of Vista Outdoors at hand. Further, I have absolutely no personal qualms with anyone or anything related to the Czech Republic or CSG. I’m just another reader of firearms related articles who may have some concerns over this potential sale. I do believe the portion of Vista Outdoors is it’s Kinetic Group which includes Federal, CCI, Remington Ammo, Speer, Hevi-Shot, Alliant Powder and the Estate Cartridge Company (forgive me if I omitted anything). CSG currently operates over 100 companies… Read more »
I’m going to remain agnostic on this issue for the time being. I like the three Representatives named in the article, even though Kennedy has taken some rather questionable positions/votes on several issues lately. I read gregs post and if I had to choose a position today, it would be similar. Yet, I firmly believe we should not offshore anything anymore, period. I’m with J.D. Vance in opposing the sale of US Steel to foreign investors. This Vista deal doesn’t seem to be that kind of issue. They would still be other US based providers it seems. And there’s restrictions… Read more »
Ofcourse since this would drastically and seriously harm US security, Janet Yellen and the corrupt Biden bunch will approve the sale. Anything to weaken the USA those decrepit and dispicable globalist traitors to America will support.
I love Sen Kennedy, he is probably my favorite. He has so many cool sayings and he is great for calling it what it is and especially for calling stupid democraps on the carpet and showing just how foolish and dumb they are when they don’t even know answers that they should for the government positions, ATF, AG, FBI they hold.. I wish we had more like Kennedy. Nobody, and I mean Nobody that is not of the USA should own any of our manufacturing for guns or ammo. Surely with all the rich republicans that the democraps claim there… Read more »
heard a comment on the difference between a statesman and a politician. a statesman is worried what happens after he leaves office, a politician is only worried about the next election.
i used to like sen kennedy but now am reconsidering my opinion of him. if the primers are being made in America, surely the government can ensure that the military has a sufficient supply of them and completed ammunition. if that is a problem, maybe congress should stop sending all our ammunition to other countries.