Another day, another sale of an iconic brand to a new owner.
It seems like the way of the world lately, as venture capital, private equity, and private buyers scoop up brands left and right, consolidating them under a single banner. Some are successful and reinvigorate these companies. While others, well, they're less successful. But it seems to be happening faster and faster, and to more and more brands.
Today, we got news that Bell Helmets—along with Giro, Bushnell, Stone Glacier, Camelbak, Sims, Fox Racing, Camp Chef, Primos, and QuietKat—were sold to private equity firm Strategic Value Partners in an all-cash deal worth $1.125 billion. Yep, that's billion with a "B" in a move that breaks up the group's original owner, Vista Outdoors Inc., into two separate entities for the purpose of this sale, with Revelyst being the overarching umbrella of the aforementioned companies.
The second entity is the newly-named Kinetic Group, which sold off the group's ammunition division to the Czechoslovak Group for $2.2 billion in a deal that had to be looked over by the US' Committee on Foreign Investment.
But it's the first deal that both you and I should be paying attention to, as those are some brands we all use and trust. I mean, I've got a Bell helmet that's sitting on my wall behind my desk as I write this very sentence.
Vista Outdoors is likely not a name you've heard of until today, but it's been a big player within the outdoors industry for the last two decades. It's grown through the years like other investment firms, by acquiring brands, selling them off, and then using the money from those sales to buy new brands. Bell, along with Giro and a host of other brands, were sold to Vista for $400 million in 2016, though by 2018 Vista was already apparently looking for a new owner of the helmet brand.
Fox Racing was then acquired in 2022 for $540 million, which brings us to 2024 and the sale of its Revelyst companies.
According to the sale's press release, Revelyst recently downsized its operations, consolidating both its workforce (read, layoffs) and its real estate footprint to three locations: Irvine, California; Bozeman, Montana; and San Diego, California. This was likely done in anticipation of the sale, as it is standard procedure for this type of deal, cough, cough Motor Trend/Discovery. The three house Revelyst's "Adventure Sports, Outdoor Performance, and Precision Sports Technology areas, and split the group's companies into their respective houses.
As we've come to expect from forward-looking statements of sales, the release given by Revelyst and Strategic Value Partners is one where it touts that this investment will "unlock new potential" for these brands. And that the new owners have deep respect for each company's core audience. But history and experience tell me I should be deeply suspect of such statements given the way that these investment groups have operated within the space. There's a reason why YouTube videos detailing why creatives left companies are becoming a genre in an of itself.
But as always, I do hope that these brands get the financing and support they deserve. I routinely entrust my own noggin to a Bell, and I've used Fox products throughout my life, as well as having two Camp Chef products in my garage. They're good products and some proper financial backing could take them even further. So fingers crossed this is a good acquisition and not another Hoonigan or Donut.
I reached out to both Bell Helmets and QuietKat, but haven't heard back by the time of publishing. I'll update this post if and when I hear back.
