Bushnell Acquires Simmons
Dennis Phillips
The Walker Agency
800-248-9687
Bushnell to Acquire Assets of Simmons Outdoor Corporation
Overland Park, KS - 6/13/08 —MidOcean Partners, a leading middle market private equity fund, and Bushnell Outdoor Products, the worldwide leader in sports optics, premium eyewear, and outdoor accessories for 60 years, announced today that Bushnell has acquired the Simmons® brand and certain other assets of Simmons Outdoor Corporation from Meade Instruments Corp, a California based publicly traded company.
Simmons is a provider of high quality, innovative optical products. The acquisition includes a complete line of riflescope and binoculars, as well as spotting scopes.
This acquisition continues the expansion of the family of outdoor brands under the Bushnell Outdoor Products umbrella. Since 1983 Simmons has provided the hunter and sportsmen performance and long-lasting value led by the Master Series™ line of riflescopes. For the hunter and the sports fan the Simmon’s ProSport® compact and full size line of binoculars provides fully coated optics with edge-to-edge clarity.
“The Simmons line of optical products provides a strategic asset and a valuable brand to our company,” said Joe Messner, President and CEO of Bushnell Outdoor Products. “We will continue to provide the high level of value and service the loyal Simmons customers and consumers have grown to expect over the past 30 years,” added Messner.
“Acquisition of the Simmons line is consistent with MidOcean’s strategy of expanding the Bushnell platform through select strategic acquisitions” said David Basto, a Principal at MidOcean Partners. “Our goal is to identify attractive brands which we can improve by leveraging the strong distribution channel and management expertise of Bushnell.”
The parties signed a definitive purchase agreement and the transaction closed on June 12, 2008.
This marks the seventh acquisition Bushnell has made since 2001. The most recent was the purchase of the Kolpin® and Final Approach® brands in 2007. Prior to that, Michael’s of Oregon in 2005 with the addition of the Uncle Mike’s®, Hoppe’s®, Butler Creek®, Stoney Point®, Uncle Mike’s Law Enforcement® brands. The Tasco® sports optics brand was added in 2002 and Bollé® and Serengeti® premium eyewear brands were acquired in 2001, along with Moonlight night vision products.
Bushnell is a privately held company funded by MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York and London.
Bushnell Outdoor Products is a global manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer products based in Overland Park, Kansas. Bushnell Outdoor Products sells its products worldwide under the Bushnell®, Tasco®, Serengeti®, Bollé®, Uncle Mike’s®, Stoney Point®, Hoppe’s®, Kolpin®, Final Approach® and Butler Creek® brand names. For information about any of these brands or products, please contact Bushnell Public Relations at (913) 752-6105.
MidOcean Partners is a premier private equity firm focused on the middle market. MidOcean is committed to investing in high quality companies with stable market positions and multiple opportunities for growth. MidOcean utilizes a broad foundation of expertise in its focus industries and its transatlantic platform to create value for its investors and partners. For more information about MidOcean Partners, please visit www.midoceanpartners.com
