Cabela’s, the hunting, boating, fishing, camping, shooting, etc. retailer, is on the verge of being sold to one of its competitors, Bass Pro Shops, in conjunction with Goldman Sachs, according to a report from New York Post.
Bass Pro Shops, a privately owned outdoor retailer similar to Cabela’s, has been trying to acquire Cabela’s for months, but the deal seems to have made some headway lately as Bas Pro Shops has also brought on board Goldman Sachs’ private equity group to help strike a deal.
And that deal appears to be very imminent, as Cabela’s shares rose 2.7 percent to a 14-month high of $54.08 on Friday (July 15) based on rumors of the sale.
“Bass is the only buyer around it,” a source was quoted as saying by New York Post.
One of the most controversial aspects of any sale of Cabela’s is the fact that the retailer makes a significant percentage of its business off of the sale of guns, which has become increasingly controversial lately in the U.S. in the wake of a number of mass shootings.
Cabela’s currently has 67 stores in North America and about 19,300 people on its payroll, according to OutdoorHub. The company was founded in 1961 as a mail-order business by Richard Cabela, and the Cabela family still controls about 24 percent of the company’s total stock, which could be seen as a hindrance to any sale.
Still, the markets seem to believe that such a sale is going to happen sooner rather than later.
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