FN Browning Group Completes Accuracy International Purchase Five Months After Signing

FN Browning Group has completed its purchase of Accuracy International, the Portsmouth maker of precision bolt-action rifles, the group said in a release dated Oct. 30 from Portsmouth and Liège. The closing comes five months after the two companies announced their agreement on May 28, when the deal was still subject to regulatory approvals.

Neither release gives a purchase price.

The buyer is the Belgian parent of FN Herstal, Browning and Winchester firearms. It employs 4,200 people and runs more than 20 industrial sites in nine NATO countries. Accuracy International sells to military, police and sport shooters in more than 70 countries and will keep operating under its own name. The May agreement said the company also keeps its engineering culture and its UK and US manufacturing bases. Its US operation supports the North American market, the earlier release said.

The purchase gives FN Browning Group a line of precision and extreme long-range rifle systems, a segment the group described as new to its portfolio. On the sporting side, Accuracy International sits alongside the Browning and Winchester brands. On the defense side, it joins FN, which supplies small arms, integrated weapon systems and NATO-standard ammunition.

The UK angle is the one the group leans on hardest. With FN UK and Accuracy International under one roof, it says it is now the United Kingdom’s sole manufacturer of both military machine guns and rifles. Its other UK holdings are Flee Hawk and a shareholding in Sentinel Photonics. The May release quoted Colonel Will Waugh of the UK Ministry of Defence’s National Armaments team, who said the ministry buys some of its most important small arms from both companies and called the combination good news for the ministry.

“We are very pleased to welcome Accuracy International and its teams to FN Browning Group,” said Julien Compère, the group’s chief executive, in the Oct. 30 release. “Our objective is clear: to preserve what makes Accuracy International unique while creating new opportunities and building on our respective strengths.”

Tom Irwin, director of Accuracy International, said joining the group “provides us with additional resources, international reach and new opportunities for growth, while preserving the identity, values and expertise that have made Accuracy International a global benchmark in precision rifle systems.”

FN Browning Group was advised by Stephens on the deal, Jones Day on legal matters and PwC on financial and tax questions, the May release said. Accuracy International used Oaklins S&W and Trethowans.

The deal is the group’s second completed acquisition in 13 months. It closed its purchase of the French ammunition company Sofisport on Sept. 30, 2025, per a notice on its own site.

For American buyers of Accuracy International rifles, the practical change so far is ownership, not product. The releases name no plans to move production, rename models or change the dealers that sell the rifles in the United States. The group’s 2025 results, published June 5 in a statement, showed revenue above 1 billion euros and EBITDA of 138 million euros. Its next annual results will be the first to carry Accuracy International’s numbers.