Smith & Wesson Closes $160 Million Savage Arms Acquisition

Smith & Wesson Brands completed its acquisition of Savage Arms on October 21, valuing the rifle maker at $160.0 million, subject to customary adjustments, the company said in a release from Maryville, Tennessee.

Savage, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, makes hunting, competition and target-shooting centerfire and rimfire rifles and shotguns. Its strength is hunting and bolt-action rifles, which the release calls highly complementary to Smith & Wesson’s handgun leadership. The seller was Savarms, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary of JDH Capital I, L.P., a private investment firm based in Houston and established in 2017.

Savage was a Vista Outdoor property before it was spun off in 2019, and ATK, as that company was then called, had acquired it in 2013, Shooting News Weekly noted. None of the documents gives a price for that earlier transfer.

Mark Smith, Smith & Wesson’s president and chief executive, called the deal “an important milestone in our strategy to be the undisputed market leader in the firearm industry.” Michael Fertitta, a JDH managing director, said Smith & Wesson “is a natural partner for Savage.”

Filing Puts Cash at $42.4 Million, Release at $37.5 Million

The release describes the price as approximately 9 million shares of Smith & Wesson common stock, valued at $13.62 each, plus $37.5 million in cash. The $13.62 is the volume weighted average price over the 45 consecutive trading days ending the third trading day before closing. Smith & Wesson puts the price at about 7.9 times Savage’s Adjusted EBITDA for the 12 months to September 30, 2026, after counting $2.5 million of expected initial annual synergies.

The 8-K filed with the SEC gives different figures. It reports 8,993,968 shares issued and $42.4 million in cash, set against an adjusted transaction value of approximately $164.9 million. That is the $160.0 million base value changed for Savage’s cash, debt, transaction expenses and working capital at closing. The share count equals 19.99% of the shares outstanding before the first merger, and the post-closing adjustment will be settled in cash.

The deal ran as two mergers. A merger subsidiary merged into the Savage holding company, Long Range Intermediate LLC, and that company then merged into Smith & Wesson.

Savage had approximately $160 million of net sales for the 12 months ended September 30, 2026. Smith & Wesson expects about $18 million of incremental EBITDAS on a full-year basis. It expects fully diluted earnings per share accretion of about $0.04 for the rest of fiscal 2027 and $0.07 for a full year, rising to about $0.10 after initial synergies, all excluding acquisition accounting.

The investor presentation puts Smith & Wesson at $551 million of revenue over the 12 months to July 2026 and Savage at $160 million over the 12 months to September 2026. Combined, that is $711 million. The deck lists 1,719 employees at Smith & Wesson and 508 at Savage, 2,227 combined, without stating a period for those counts. The combined company has five facilities. Smith & Wesson has its headquarters in Maryville and manufacturing in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Houlton, Maine. Savage has its headquarters in Westfield and manufacturing in Lakefield, Ontario. The deck puts non-overlapping brands and product lines at 99% or more and says shared customers make up about 80% of business.

JDH Gets a Board Seat and a Staged Lock-Up

JDH owns 16.7% of Smith & Wesson’s outstanding common stock after closing, which the release calls the largest holding. Under the investor rights agreement, JDH can designate one director for nomination until its stake falls below 10%. The right also ends if JDH waives it for good and its designee resigns, on or after the second anniversary of closing.

Smith & Wesson appointed Michael D. Fertitta, 50, a managing director of JDH Capital Company, to a vacancy on the board. The board now has seven directors, and Fertitta sits on its Nominations and Corporate Governance Committee. During the standstill period, while JDH holds at least 10%, it has agreed to vote its shares as the board recommends on director elections and other specified matters.

The lock-up on JDH’s shares expires in three equal installments, 90, 240 and 360 days after closing. The agreement also has standstill and transfer restrictions and registration rights. Smith & Wesson agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to file a resale shelf registration on Form S-3 within 60 days of closing.

The merger agreement lists HSR filings and a post-closing Investment Canada Act notification as the government steps required, and says no Smith & Wesson stockholder vote was needed. D.A. Davidson & Co. was financial adviser to Smith & Wesson, with Bass, Berry & Sims PLC as legal counsel. Latham & Watkins advised JDH and Savage.

Smith & Wesson must file Savage’s financial statements and pro forma financial information by amendment to the 8-K. They are due no later than 71 days after the date the initial report had to be filed.