Prague It’s definitive. will also control the American armor icon Colt Holding, a company famous for its legendary revolvers since the time of the Wild Back and, among other things, the M16 and subsequently the M4, in the arsenal of (not only) American soldiers of the last decades.
Representatives of the Czech holding company CZG signed in the burrow, its production includes the production of CZ pistols and other weapons of the Czech armory, the contract for the purchase of Colt and now the transaction was driven by the American Akadian series, especially in the field of competition and foreign investment.
As the president of the CZG holding, Lubomr Kovak, revealed in an interview for Lidovky.cz, it was necessary to convince the user ‘s colt, the product Colt, from the armed forces of the Ilok series in the cities where it is produced. That is, in West Hartford, USA, and Kitchener, Canada.
Lidovky.cz:What did the American and Canadian series want to know?
They were interested, among other things, in whether we were not going to cut off or move production elsewhere, as will be the case with investments in the development of new products and technologies and the like. In both cities, Colt is a major employer, and it is understandable that cities are interested in finding out what will last. And what about the share, Colt was looking not only for a strong financial investor, but also for one who had the potential to support the company in business.
Lidovky.cz:One of Colt’s shares is one vc. But how hard was it for CZG to convince the American and Canadian series that the first CZG is the right partner for Colt?
Due to the fact that the CZG Group has been on the stock exchange since last year and we are fully transparent, we could have available all the materials and information that we had to provide in the regulatory approval process. It helped us that we hired a consultant in the USA and Canada who made this acquisition.
A number of our employees and Colt employees helped with the creation of the background. Everyone worked on this project to the fullest. This will be followed by the process of integrating Colt into CZG.
Lidovky.cz: What is obn? Colt Holding Company became a subsidiary of CZG?
Yes, that’s right, Colt has become one of the subsidiaries of the CZG group, as well as its parent company in Uherský Brod. So now we have two production entities. Colt will remain the first independent entity owned by CZG, with a unified business strategy. CZG will have a specific role and will take initiatives involving the new entity, such as corporate strategies, corporate and acquisitions strategies and finance groups.
Lidovky.cz: For your own choice, did the icon fall like the Colt character?
As part of our strategy, we monitor companies for acquisitions of companies both in the small arms sector and in related sectors, such as the production of ammunition and optics. For example, last year we bought a minority stake in Spuhr, a leading manufacturer of optical mounting mounts for weapons.
We were interested in the Colt a few years ago, but one day it happened. When last November saw the opportunity to buy a Colt again, if we did. We buy the company due to our long-term presence on the American market, which is an integral part of the growth strategy.
VUSA has been operating since 1997 and, through its subsidiary CZ-USA, will supply our products, especially to hunters and sportsmen, which means that we are active in the civilian market. We want not only permanent growth in the civilian market in the USA, but also an increase in the market of armed forces, federal and local.
Lidovky.cz: But isn’t there a fierce internal competition between the Czech armory and Colt? They have quite a similar product portfolio.
On the contrary. Do not compete with our portfolios, but complement each other for a very long time. Colt makes revolvers, we don’t. Colt has a typical metal pistol Colt 1911, we have a large product line of pistols with a polymer frame. While the Colt doesn’t have a hunting weapon, we have them. CZG does not have, for example, machine guns, which Colt m, also offers a platform of tonch pucks on the M4 and AR 15, which we do not have. Bren-type pucks at 5.56 and 7.62 millimeters are again something that complements the Colt portfolio.
In addition, we can sharply strengthen Colt’s position in the markets in the three hundred countries where we have sales representatives, and the Colt will certainly use our sophisticated methods of design and mathematical modeling.
Lidovky.cz: Colt, like CZG, went through an economic crisis years ago. How is it today?
Companies are going very long. Its sales in 2020 reached about 250 million US dollars. For comparison, the sales of the CZG Group last year reached 6.8 billion crowns, which is more than $ 310 million. Together we have more than two thousand employees in the Czech Republic, the United States, Canada and Germany.
Lidovky.cz: Do you know that in Uherské Brod you will make colts? In Canada, respectively in the USA, CZ pistols?
Colt will continue to manufacture its products in West Hartford and Kitchener, and we want to invest in Colt to expand its product portfolio in the future. We therefore perform Colt as it develops, both in the USA and in Canada. We are thus fulfilling the available capacity of Colt first to assemble and then the production of weapons esk zbrojovky production of the product CZ vUSA is a priority for us. The acquisition of Colt does not warm up the full CZG in the Czech Republic. We are constantly increasing production at the factories in Uherský Brod and we intend to continue this trend.
Lidovky.cz: Over the last 15 years, the Czech Armory and the subsequent CZG Group have taken a difficult path from financial needs to the role of a profitable global game. How full are you personally?
I personally managed to build a global game with a global reach from the Czech Armory. The way was not easy, the key was that we agreed with the shareholders to change the business strategy and product portfolio. Not everyone knew we could do it, not only from the competition, but also from domestic armed forces. Therefore, she is happy that the situation is completely different.
Today, the whole group represents the most important employer in the region, one of the leading Czech exports. . And I personally? It’s time to slow down …
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