Arms maker Czechoslovak Group chief eyes place on global stage

Michal Strnad, who a decade ago became head of CSG, a family defence business, is closing in on buying US ammunitions maker Kinetic Group that will transform a company that started by buying tanks for scrap into a key player in the global arms market.

But first Strnad, the 31-year old Czech, owner and chairman of the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) — a large supplier to Ukraine — needs to fend off a rival offer for Kinetic parent Vista Outdoor, opens new tab to get control of around 20 percent of the West’s small ammunitions market and nearly double its revenue from last year’s 1.7 billion euros. “We are a long-term strategic investor that wants to take it private to build it and grow it and invest in new capacity and technology,” Strnad told Reuters in an interview on Friday. “We will not just come and shake the company for the money and try to squeeze it.”

The privately-held company, which employs more than 10,000 workers at 37 sites in Europe and the United States, has made a $1.91 billion allcash offer for Kinetic Group, formerly known as the Sporting Products, which includes its ammunition production business. Vista Outdoor has agreed to the CSG bid, which needs clearance from shareholders in May, and approval from Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.

The company has also received a revised unsolicited $3 billion all-cash bid deal from investment firm MNC capital, after rejecting a previous offer from the firm. Strnad, whose net worth more than doubled last year to $4.4 billion according to Forbes, said his company’s offer makes sense for a privately-held company like his not answerable to shareholders that has the financial wherewithal to utilise and expand capacity and withstand what he called “peaks and valleys” in the industry.