Lew’s parent company buys Strike King

[moguy1973]

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/peak-rock-capital-portfolio-company-lews-acquires-strike-king-300549819.html

 

The whole fishing industry is going to be one big company someday. 

[J Francho]

You realize that's pretty much true for EVERYTHING, right?  This is not unique to outdoor/sporting goods brands.

[moguy1973]

3 minutes ago, J Francho said:

You realize that's pretty much true for EVERYTHING, right?  This is not unique to outdoor/sporting goods brands.

Very true.  It's all about the money.  If someone offers enough money to buy something they will sell it off.  No one business is immune to that.

[J Francho]

7 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

It's all about the money.

It isn't ALL about money, but profit is a result of many things.  Not everything is driven by greed.  You can't profit selling crap.

[fishballer06]

That's interesting to hear. Strike King is a very large bait company (possibly the largest out there?). I haven't seen this reported on any other major fishing websites, so I'm leery if it's true or not. 

 

If this is true, I wonder if "pre-Lews" Strike King baits will become highly sought after like other lures have become?

 

 

Edit. https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/strike-king-acquired-11617.html

has now reported it too. Seems to be true.

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

It isn't ALL about money, but profit is a result of many things.  Not everything is driven by greed.  You can't profit selling crap.

Google guano wars..

[J Francho]

Touche

[hoosierbass07]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

It isn't ALL about money, but profit is a result of many things.  Not everything is driven by greed. 

 

 lol.  What world are you living in?  Not the world I see every day.  

[Senko lover]

Not surprised, not happy about it. Strike King is my favorite fishing brand, so I hope they don't go downhill in any way. Otherwise those dang rage craws will be 20 bucks a bag now haha. 

[Gundog]

I didn't know Lew's had that deep pockets. I know they have been around for awhile. Read on their website that they licensed their name to Browning. Not really sure what to make of this move.

[Columbia Craw]

There were subtle signs of this acquisition taking place over the last year or so. A number of long time Strike King Pro's had begun relationships with Lew's. Strike King product manager, Doug Minor was fishing Lew's products on a Strike King TV show and one of the co-sponsors for the show was Lew's. When Bass Pro Shops added Lew's to their reel line up I was curious as to what prompted Johnny Morris to support Lynn Reeves.  The brands do compliment each other. I'm happy to see Strike King's leadership is intact.  Thanks for sharing.

[Kevinator1]

3 hours ago, hoosierbass07 said:

 

 lol.  What world are you living in?  Not the world I see every day.  

I'm with you on this one....been on this earth for over 53 years and have never seen the greed that is currently going on in this country.....I'm sure it is all about the money....

[J Francho]

Phht, it's always been that way.  If you choose to dwell in it, then that's your choice.  I worry about myself, not others.

[Montanaro]

Lets get real

 

SK is probably owned by some other conglomerate and Lews conglomerate saw an opportunity to expand into the lure market.

 

If I was a CEO of an outdoor sports conglomerate you bet your ass Id be licking my lips at the prospect of signing strike king onto my team!

[J Francho]

Lew's reels is a smaller part of Lew's Holdings (fishing and hunting gear), which is a smaller part of Peak Rock Capital.  MidCap Financial financed the transaction.  It's all in the article, folks!  Many, many of brands we buy are part of very large firms.

 

They also announced a change in leadership, which often happens.  The parent company is able to provide C-level support, and guide the company through the transition, and moving forward.  It all depends on the situation.  Sometimes they're hands off, and sometimes they step in.

[bowhunter63]

I use Lews and SK alot.I Hope it's for the better and we don't loose quality.

[Bankbeater]

I hope SK quality doesn’t go down, but you know Lews finance people are going to go through SK with a fine tooth comb. 

[Deleted account]

17 hours ago, Montanaro said:

Lets get real

 

SK is probably owned by some other conglomerate and Lews conglomerate saw an opportunity to expand into the lure market.

 

If I was a CEO of an outdoor sports conglomerate you bet your ass Id be licking my lips at the prospect of signing strike king onto my team!

SK was until acquired a private company. It rode the wave of bass fishing popularity to become a prominent player. It's difficult if not impossible to get good numbers on private companies, but it seems to have been a $20-50 million, 50-100 employee company. Lew's parent company is a private equity firm, so $ they can get. Like someone else mentioned, I don't see the obvious play here, but it all ends the same with those guys, so leverage it out, and sell it to one of the big sector players I guess.

[burrows]

Freaking sellouts! Lol

 

[J Francho]

15 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I hope SK quality doesn’t go down, but you know Lews finance people are going to go through SK with a fine tooth comb. 

 

That due diligence would have happened long before the deal went down.

 

I see no reason quality would go down.  Lew's didn't suffer quality issue when acquired, so they obviously know what they're doing.

[Choporoz]

It's a reasonable concern....quality and price.

 

It's not as though the acquisition was by an outdoor enthusiast with a passion for sportsman and our pursuits.  Peak Rock Capital and MidCap Financial aren't likely to be operations that care deeply about fishing products, fisherman, or anything other than making money.   And that's ok, as long as their objectives support ours, we're all good.  Hopefully, the need to stay competitive and please shareholders will be accomplished by continuing to create quality with price reasonableness.  But, I don't think for a second that they will hesitate to eventually cut corners or raise prices if it means greater profits.  I have to believe that profits are greater, at least in the short/medium run, when big companies cater to consumers more interested in price than other qualities that some of us might value more (quality, workmanship, durability, effectiveness, etc.)

    I will remain hopeful....for the time being

[J Francho]

Wow, that's a pretty negative outlook.  Have you personally seen that with any Lew's products?  Because I haven't. 

[Choporoz]

8 minutes ago, J Francho said:

  Have you personally seen that with any Lew's products? 

Nope.

But considering the Peak Rock/Lews acquisition was all of one year ago, it might be a little bit early to find such evidence, even if it exists.

[12poundbass]

I'll start by saying I'm not a business person and don't pretend to know anything about it, but here's my experience. 

 

I used to work for a very large (employee wise) nation wide company that was/is worth over 200 million. Every few years you'd get a group of investors buy the company or a majority of it, ride the wave for a few years sell it and walk away with millions in profits. Nothing really changed except for growth. The same standards were still there. On our end you'd never know. You see it all the time, this doesn't appear to be any different. 

 

You have a group of smart suits who see great potential and a good return on investment. I think it's better that they aren't anglers, less likely they'd try and put their 2 cents in. The one investor I told you about had their money in Bannana Replic, some watch company, and other carp and bought my company which was a infrastructure company, talk about polar opposites. 

 

This is no different than flipping houses. Invest a little make money back. Why not do it?

 

Again I'm no expert and it's only my opinion and we know what those are like. ?

 

[J Francho]

48 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Nope.

But considering the Peak Rock/Lews acquisition was all of one year ago, it might be a little bit early to find such evidence, even if it exists.

There's plenty of evidence in their portfolio.  Cutting corners and reduced quality doesn't look to be their hallmark.  In fact, their entire portfolio is more of a high end type product list.

 

http://peakrockcapital.com/portfolio/