Smith & Wesson closes Savage Arms purchase with $164.9 million in stock and cash

Smith & Wesson Brands closed its acquisition of Savage Arms on October 21, 2026, paying $42.4 million in cash and 8,993,968 newly issued shares for a business with approximately $160 million of trailing-twelve-month net sales. The adjusted transaction value was approximately $164.9 million against a $160.0 million base, and the filing carries no third-quarter results.

The Maryville, Tennessee-based gunmaker bought the Savage Arms business from an indirect subsidiary of JDH Capital I, L.P. in a merger that closed the same day it was announced. Savage, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, has made hunting, competition and target rifles and shotguns for more than 130 years; Smith & Wesson frames the combination as a way to add bolt-action rifles and hunting shotguns to a portfolio built on handguns. The filing reports the deal as a completed acquisition and an unregistered sale of equity, with the press release and slide deck furnished alongside it.

Consideration was fixed at 19.99% of the shares outstanding

The equity leg was set by share count, not by a dollar amount. Smith & Wesson issued 8,993,968 shares — 19.99% of the shares outstanding immediately before the first merger, rounded down — and valued them at a reference price of $13.62, the volume-weighted average price over the 45 consecutive trading days ending on the third trading day before closing.

Cash at closing was $42.4 million, above the $37.5 million the press release described, because the 8-K reports an adjusted transaction value of approximately $164.9 million against the $160.0 million base. The adjustment reflects estimates of Savage's cash, debt, transaction expenses, minimum cash and net working capital at closing, and remains subject to a post-closing settlement in cash. JDH holds 16.7% of Smith & Wesson after the closing.

Savage adds hunting rifles to a handgun-led portfolio

The companies' own figures put Savage's trailing-twelve-month net sales at approximately $160 million for the period ended September 30, 2026, against $551 million for Smith & Wesson in the twelve months to July 2026. The slide presentation gives $711 million as the combined revenue base, 2,227 employees and five manufacturing facilities, and says the brand and product lines are 99%+ non-overlapping. Savage's rifles fill categories where Smith & Wesson was thin: bolt-action and lever-action rifles, and shotguns.

Mark Smith, the president and chief executive, called the deal "an important milestone in our strategy to be the undisputed market leader in the firearm industry" and said Savage "meaningfully expands our presence in the hunting category."

Accretion depends on $18 million of EBITDAS and $2.5 million of synergies

Smith & Wesson expects the acquisition to add approximately $18 million of incremental EBITDAS on a full-year basis and to be immediately cash accretive. The release puts fully diluted earnings per share accretion at approximately $0.04 for the remainder of fiscal 2027, $0.07 for a full year excluding acquisition accounting, and $0.10 once initial synergies are realized.

Those are company projections, not reported results. The $160.0 million base price equals approximately 7.9x Savage's Adjusted EBITDA for the twelve months to September 30, 2026, after giving effect to $2.5 million of expected annual run-rate synergies — a multiple that moves with the earnings base the deal actually delivers. Pro forma net leverage is estimated at 1.16.

A board seat now, audited Savage financials within 71 days

JDH's Michael D. Fertitta joined the board as the seller's designee, giving Smith & Wesson seven directors. The investor rights agreement keeps a board-designation right while JDH holds at least 10% of the shares, puts part of its stake under a lock-up released in three equal instalments during the first year, and requires a resale shelf registration within 60 days.

The filing also sets the next checkpoints. Savage's financial statements and pro forma information are due by amendment within 71 days, which will test both the $160 million revenue figure and the accretion math. And this is an acquisition report, not a quarterly earnings report: it contains no third-quarter revenue, margin or earnings per share, so none of the accretion claims can yet be measured against reported results.