Cabela’s shareholders OK sale to Bass Pro
Officials look at how Bass Pro Shops’ purchase of Cabela’s might affect economic deals with firms
This merger could impact economic development agreements both stores have with Oklahoma City.
While Cabela’s shareholders have approved selling their company to rival Bass Pro Shops for roughly $4 billion, it’s too soon to know how that might impact the stores each firm has in Oklahoma City.
Bass Pro Shops has been operating its store in Bricktown since November 2003, while Cabela’s opened its Oklahoma City store at 1200 W Memorial Road in September 2015.
To get both stores to town, Oklahoma City executed economic development agreements with each of the companies.
In the case of Bass Pro Shops, the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority agreed in 2002 to pay about $17.1 million to build the Bricktown building for the store in exchange for a minimum 20-year lease. There also are additional five-year renewal options as part of the
deal that could extend its total length to 50 years.
Oklahoma City paid for the deal by using use tax money dedicated for other purposes. The city planned to repay those dollars through lease payments made by Bass Pro to the authority and through additional sales taxes generated by sales from the business.
Plans called for retiring the debt within 14 years, and it was paid off on time, said Brent Bryant, the city’s economic development manager.
As for Oklahoma City’s deal with Cabela’s, the city agreed in 2014 through its economic development trust to provide an incentive of up to $3.5 million during a period of up to 10 years in exchange for Cabela’s commitment to spend at least $10 million to build a store that was 80,000 square feet or larger.
The incentive is being paid to the store annually, and its amount is calculated on 1.2 percent of sales-tax eligible sales the store makes to customers. The city paid Cabela’s an incentive payment of $357,208 for its sales the first fiscal year it was open.
Waiting for details
On Tuesday, Bryant said Oklahoma City is reviewing its agreements with both entities while it waits to find out how the sale might impact the stores’ operations.
“Once those details are apparent, we’ll have a clearer understanding on what changes might need to be made to our agreements involving each project, if any,” he said.
Earlier this month, the proposed acquisition of Cabela’s by Bass Pro was approved by the Federal Trade Commission, and in Tuesday’s vote, a majority of Cabela’s shareholders also signed off on a plan that will pay them $61.50 per share when the deal closes.
Bass Pro’s director of communications said plenty of work remains as the companies begin their process to merge.
“Today’s vote ... brings us one step closer to finalizing our plans,” Jack Wlezien said in an email. “Other steps remain on our path to unite our two organizations and there are still many decisions to be made as we prepare to bring our companies together.
“While we do not have answers to every question today, we are committed to sharing additional information as it becomes available.”
Bass Pro, based in Springfield, Missouri, since 1972, operates 99 stores and Tracker Marine Centers primarily in the eastern part of the U.S. and Canada.
Cabela’s was founded in 1961 by Dick Cabela as a mail-order company run from his kitchen table in Chappell, Nebraska. By 1969, it operated out of a 50,000-squarefoot building in Sidney, Nebraska.
The company sells both online and through retail stores throughout the U.S.
Company officials have said they expect the deal to close later this year, but banking regulators have yet to approve the sale of Cabela’s credit card unit that is part of the transaction.
After the merger, the company will be based in Bass Pro’s hometown of Springfield, Missouri. It’s not yet clear how many of the roughly 2,000 jobs in Cabela’s headquarters of Sidney, Nebraska will remain after the deal.