"Sierra’s free cash flow dynamics are expected to provide capacity for future acquisitions utilizing our structure.”

It all reads quite well until you get to the familiar financial sector speak, strip out the cash for other ventures stuff up the company and move on to the next one. Hope I'm wrong.

Yep seems like black diamond bought them out not long ago.
Changed the name to bd.them this year changer it back.

They seem to be out for whatever money they can get off companies then dump them.

Makes one wonder how bullets will go with rock climbing gear and other sundries.

yep .. everyone said doom and gloom for barnes,ruger, dakota, marlin, dpms, HR ...

yes, these buyers want the returns to fund growth -- and they buy for the 15 year plans, minimum of 5 year plans, which is longer than most family run companies do

well, ruger and the "american" rifle are contra-examples

I agree with eagle27. This article specifically says they bought it for the cash, which allowed them to up their credit spending from $20M to $40M. Strip the cash cow to fund other projects.

quote:

We remain committed to seeking to acquire additional companies in industries potentially unrelated to outdoor that satisfy our investment criteria as we found in Sierra. In addition, the minimal leverage incorporated in this transaction and Sierra’s free cash flow dynamics are expected to provide capacity for future acquisitions utilizing our structure.”

I think all will be OK. The sky ain't falling.

Sierra is a profitable company with guaranteed income. All that is changing is how the $30 million a year profits are distributed.

yep distributed straight into the buyers pockets.

look at what happened when the other company's were bought.
Marlin for example.
junk right off the bat.
so bad they had to stop making a rifle that has been made for 75 years to try and make it acceptable to the public.
they lost many loyal fans, and the others now look at them as a second rate gun driving the price of the older guns up.

quote:

Originally posted by Sam:
Sierra is a profitable company with guaranteed income. All that is changing is how the $30 million a year profits are distributed.

Aah there is more to financial behaviour than that. Often investment companies strip out all the cash, not just the profits, to fund other ventures and when these tip over or perform poorly the successful business struggles to provide for one or more other ventures. In fact often investment companies will actually put successful companies into debt on the strength of their performance so they have funds for other investments.

Can all work well provided everything makes money but too often things go bad then the indebted successful company e.g. Sierra Bullets suffers the consequence.

While I tend to agree with Gato, we will just have to see if the buyer really comes out with the new products and marketing, or if it is otherwise.

I have a couple rifles that really shoot Sierra bullets well. Should I be stocking up ???

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
I have a couple rifles that really shoot Sierra bullets well. Should I be stocking up ???

I too have been an avid user of Sierra bullets, I've found that if a rifle doesn't shoot with Sierra's it usually won't shoot with anything else.

I hope all goes well for Sierra but the statements from the new owner, albeit promising to enhance Sierra's distribution etc, seem to have another focus on as yet other suitable purchases leveraging off Sierras cash flow.

Probably wouldn't hurt to stock up on some of your favourites better on your reloading bench than into the oblivion of business failure.

If we are talking 'private equity', there might be barely enough lead and gilding metal lying around at the end to make a bullet.

A couple of companies here were bought by private-equity firms that only supplied a fraction of the money themselves to make the purchases, but borrowed it and then loaded the cost on the target companies' balance sheets, once acquired. One then flogged the retail stock quickly, below cost, making sales look great for a moment but leaving the stores without goods to go on with. Didn't matter. Before the public woke up they had re-floated the business, sold it for several times what it cost them and run away laughing. I don't recall that the corporate regulator batted an eyelid.

Maybe they'll come out with a new reloading manual.

They make great bullets, so I wish them them the best.

I guess Sierra was up for sale.
$79mill sure beat working for a living.

Only hope that the new owners will continue the values of Sierra. If they are in it for the money, research and new development will suffer and so will a good bullet.

I asked Paul Box about this the other night.
He replied: "we on the inside feel it's a good move, we'll just have to see how it turns out".

Wish 'em well, I like their bullets, just wish they'd make .17cals too.

George

I've seen companies in many industries taken over by the investment companies .They are out to make money for their members so it's downhill as far as quality ,availability, etc .While I wish Sierra well I won't hold my breath.

Well guys, I guess the sky is falling better stock up. More people are predicting gloom and doom here so that must be it. Doesn't make a difference that an investment company owned them and sold them to another.

If Sierra sold for 79 Million. what would Hornady sell for???

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
I've seen companies in many industries taken over by the investment companies .They are out to make money for their members so it's downhill as far as quality ,availability, etc .While I wish Sierra well I won't hold my breath.

Yeah -- bushmaster, dpms, barnes.. etc etc etc sure have tanked.. oh, wait, wha???

Yes some are successful but many are not.
My comments are made from my own experience and are factual.

winchester
browning
marlin
H&R
Dakota
barnes
bushmaster
remington
dpms
Ruger (sort of)
jamison
captech
beretta
taurus
IMR
Hodgedon
Olin powers
Federal


down list includes?
universal ? realy, though, how could it be worse than the originals
henry (but selling more than every, still not high quality)

COLT -- okay -- COLT i'll give you has more issues than carter has liver pills -- seems to go bankrupt every 7-8 years .. COLT is the poster child for mismanagement of takeover after takeover

remington 22 thunderbolt ammo -- since 2009, this stuff has been TERRIBLE

Hope we will see some bonded bullets from Sierra in the future. They are excellent accurate bullets, but sometimes you need them bonded for larger game.

Black Diamond was started by Yvonne Chouinard. He also owns Patagonia. I used a lot of Black carabiners, pitons, ice screws, ice hammers, etc. during my long ago mountaineering time. I would never have thought they would buy a bullet company. Ya never know.

One thought I have is that Sierra is in an industry that has been doing well over the last ten years, while many other sectors have gone tits up. The new owners may find that Sierra is more of a cash stream, than a cash cow.

If they are run into the ground, I believe that the basic soundness of their products will allow them to rise from the ashes, when they are bought up by the freedom group, or whomever.

I don't feel strong enough in my convictions to bet either way. I will do some stocking up on their .308, 175-grain bullets. My .308s dote on those cartridges.

It would be nice if they brought out a new reloading manual w/ all the modern calibers in it.

R.I.P. Sierra

Did any of you all look up the history of Sierra??? Since 1968 they've been owned by an investment group.

Don't expect to see bonded bullets. When they can run max capacity selling just what they currently offer, why change?

quote:

Originally posted by Heeler75:
Did any of you all look up the history of Sierra??? Since 1968 they've been owned by an investment group.

Don't expect to see bonded bullets. When they can run max capacity selling just what they currently offer, why change?

Of course there are good investment companies who are quite happy to purchase successful companies that may compliment a line that they are already in and where economy of scale for shipping or merchandising will enhance their operations and they are prepared to just take out reasonable profit margins.
The financial speak of this latest investment company seems to indicate a strong desire to get a snout in the trough of cash from Sierra to invest in yet unrevealed or unknown other "future acquisitions". Of course nothing wrong with this line of business either but it does come at a risk to well established and successful businesses when the "future acquisitions" don't perform as expected and drag everything down with them.
Then that is business, who are we to have any say in the matter. We can only lament the demise of very successful enterprises when or if they fall off the cliff.

I won't coment on the big business decisions, that's not my cup of tea..I would only suggest that they consider a bonded core bullet as others have suggested, they shoot as well and perform on game much better or by our pre conceived standards.

This serves as a reminder to stock up on those Sierra bullets I use 'just in case'.
Unfortunately for me. that 'just in case' looks like a four figure sum...