CSG Sends Letter to Senator J.D. Vance Addressing His Concerns Regarding Planned Acquisition of Vista Outdoor’s Sporting Products Business, The Kinetic Group
2024年4月17日 - 3:36AM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
Highlights that CSG is a Significant Supplier
to NATO, Has Several Companies with Top NATO Security Clearance,
and Works with Leading U.S. Defense Companies
Invites Senator Vance to Visit Any of CSG’s
Companies and Become Acquainted with the Facts Firsthand
The Czechoslovak Group (“CSG”) owner and CEO Michal Strnad today
sent an open letter to U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) addressing
concerns he raised in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen in connection to CSG’s proposed acquisition of Vista Outdoor
Inc.’s (NYSE: VSTO) (“Vista Outdoor”) Sporting Products business –
recently renamed The Kinetic Group.
The full text of the letter can be found below:
April 16, 2024
Senator J. D. Vance 288 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Vance,
In January, you sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
expressing your concerns about the proposed sale of The Kinetic
Group, formerly Vista Outdoor’s Sporting Products business, to our
company, The Czechoslovak Group (“CSG”). In your letter, you
claimed that CSG is a company with a long record of wrongdoing and
well-documented connections to American adversaries. Specifically,
you mentioned ties to Putin's regime and violations of
international arms embargoes. Although we were shocked by these
false accusations, we waited to respond until we published our
financial results for 2023, and with them a transparent profile of
our group's business.
Senator, with all due respect, your assessment of us was
profoundly mistaken. CSG is one of the most important private
supporters of the Ukrainian military effort, a country to which we
have supplied much-needed weapon systems dating back to 2018, well
before the outbreak of open Russian aggression. Since the Russian
army's attack on Ukraine, we have supplied the Ukrainian Army –
with the help of the government of the Czech Republic and other
NATO countries, including the U.S. – over a hundred pieces of heavy
equipment and, most importantly, hundreds of thousands of pieces of
artillery ammunition, of which we are one of the most important
European manufacturers.1
CSG Group companies are also suppliers to the U.S. military and
have a significant history of cooperation with major American
defense industry corporations. An example is General Dynamics, from
whose European company General Dynamics European Land Systems we
obtained a license for the production of Pandur wheeled armored
personnel carriers and also purchased the FMG ammunition factory in
Spain. Another example is Raytheon, for which we fulfilled a
contract to train Afghan National Army pilots using American UH-60
Black Hawk helicopters. Last but not least, we would like to point
out that several of our companies hold NATO security clearance
level SECRET.
Considering the above, any speculation about the CSG's
connection to the Putin regime should be considered nonsense. We
nevertheless explicitly note that CSG has never had any ties to
Putin's regime and there is no reason why we would have such ties,
given that we have never supplied any defense products to Russia.
Past export of our civilian products – namely trucks for the mining
industry – was negligible, and after the outbreak of Russian
aggression against Ukraine, it was unilaterally terminated by us.
CSG has also never violated any arms embargo and has never been
investigated for doing so, let alone sanctioned.
We understand that the sale of major producers of small caliber
ammunition to a foreign company, even if it is a company from a
NATO member state that is a close ally of the U.S., attracts
well-deserved attention. In today's global world, however, it is
not important which allied country the buying company is based, but
what its track record is and what value it can bring to the
American ammunition manufacturers associated in The Kinetic
Group.
We believe that from the point of view of American customers,
whether in the civilian market or in the defense and law
enforcement segment, the ideal owner is one who does not hold
companies for short-term profits, who is not in the grip of the
stock market, and who is an expert in the field. We are familiar
with the small caliber ammunition market thanks to the acquisition
of a majority stake in Fiocchi, a well-known producer of small
caliber ammunition worldwide – which also had to be approved by
CFIUS – because this company also operates two production sites in
the U.S. We are an industrial group that holds the companies it
acquires for the long term and invests in them.
We call to your attention a press release on our 2023 financial
results with a detailed profile of our business.2 But we know the
most convincing argument is one you can experience yourself. That's
why we invite you to visit CSG member companies in the U.S. and
Europe to experience first-hand who we really are.
Yours sincerely,
Michal Strnad, CEO and owner CSG
About Czechoslovak Group
Czechoslovak Group (CSG) is an international industrial
technology holding company owned by Michal Strnad. CSG supports the
development of Czech and Slovak companies engaged in defense and
civil industrial production and trade. More than 10,000 people are
employed by CSG companies and affiliates. In 2023, the holding’s
preliminary 2023 consolidated revenues reached $1.85 billion. CSG
operates across four strategic business segments covering
aerospace, ammunition, defense, mobility and business projects.
1
https://vlada.gov.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=203549&tmplid=51 2
https://czechoslovakgroup.com/en/news/annual-results-2023
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240416605565/en/
Andrej Čírtek, Spokesperson Mobile: +420 602 494 208
Email: andrej.cirtek@czechoslovakgroup.cz Or Dan Zacchei / Joe
Germani Longacre Square Partners dzacchei@longacresqaure.com /
JGermani@longacrequare.com
Vista Outdoor (NYSE:VSTO)
過去 株価チャート
から 4 2024 まで 5 2024
Vista Outdoor (NYSE:VSTO)
過去 株価チャート
から 5 2023 まで 5 2024