The Colt Holding Company, LLC announced that their acquisition by CZG, or the CZ Group SE, has successfully closed. While the two companies came to terms earlier this year, the deal required approvals from multiple government regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Canada.
Now CZG holds 100 percent of the equity interest in Colt, including Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC and the Colt Canada Corporation. “CZG and Colt are confident that the merger will bring significant operational, commercial, and R&D synergies for the combined business, which generated pro-forma aggregated annual sales in excess of $570 million in 2020 and which has more than 2,000 employees in the Czech Republic, the United States, Canada and Germany,” said Colt and CZ in the announcement.
“With this acquisition, we have created a strategic relationship between CZG and Colt, which will bring significant opportunities for the group,” said Lubomir Kovarik, Chairman and President of CZG. “We will focus on continuing to provide high quality products to our customers in a seamless manner as we harness the many synergies generated by this acquisition.”
“We are confident that this combination will create value for our customers and shareholders alike and strengthen these iconic brands,” he said. “This merger also confirms our commitment to the North American market which is an integral part of our growth strategy.”
“Colt is pleased to join forces with CZG,” said Dennis Veilleux, President and CEO of Colt. “We are proud of our heritage and believe that the strength of the combined businesses and the many synergies created by the merger will enable us to honor our roots while also securing the future of the Colt brand.”
“We look forward to continuing to deliver our high-quality products while also investing in innovation and new product offerings in the near future,” he continued. “We believe in the successful connection of our corporate cultures, the proven track record of our teams and the complementary nature of the CZ and Colt brands.”
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The CZ Group holds all of the CZ brands, which are loved all around the world and the U.S., in use by militaries, law enforcement and privately, and also Dan Wesson and Brno Rifles among other names. Now Colt’s brands will officially join the family and hopefully continue to supply shooters with their iconic firearms for years to come.
While Colt is one of the oldest and best-know manufacturers of firearms in American history, the company has struggled with lenders and debts following the loss of a few key military contracts. Even though they make some of the most sought-after handguns and rifles in production today, it simply wasn’t enough to keep Colt going without outside help.
What do you want to see coming out of this merger? Let us know in the comments.
WOW i think this is awesome! As long as Colt retains its rights/holdings or what it is ,so that Colt remains an American own and operated company!?! Thats nt to say i dont love CZ as well i own a couple of their firearms as well! Im a bit upset with them though as the handgun they 1st hit it big with that i really wanted (but for some reason never did get it) use to be 499.99 or so and now you cant touch them for less then 1250.99 or more! That price is if its a really good sale? The CZ Shadow in its variants has skyrocketed in price and even 1250.99 its not an every day persons budget! I had to save for quite a while to come up with that much for a Springfield 1911 and was lucky to catch a sale for 999.99 and was able to dress it up a bit with some upgrades. As 1911’s normally ,if kept and maintained well only go up in value its worth a lot more now. But i dont want to have to sell it to buy a CZ Shadow?!LOL So it looks like saving up for a summer and then some and i can get one…..But then theres always a Colt sporting rifle that i want in 1-8 twis? that way i can have one in the three main riflings! LOL Man i only hope good things come from this merger for us all? Americans deserve a quality company that can serve their customers for a bit better price to help us all get a good gun for a respectable cost? Now let us pray……rofl
I don’t own any CZs, so I don’t personally know about their quality. I only know what I hear. I’d like to see a ramp up of the iconic Colt SAA in different calibers with a little lower price.🤠
I have four custom built rifles made on the famous CZ 550 action that used to be sold thru Brownells but haven’t seen them listed there in a long time, I even heard a rumor that they weren’t producing them anymore, I hope that’s false, it’s one of the best actions ever produced with the best factory trigger I ever found on ANY rifle I’ve ever used.