Outdoors giant Bass Pro to acquire Cabela’s for $5.5B

Bass Pro Shops has agreed to acquire Cabela’s for $5.5 billion, combining two of the most well-known retailers for hunting and fishing gear.

Bass Pro Shops – which remains privately held, largely by Johnny Morris, who started the company 45 years ago in his father’s liquor store near Springfield, Mo. – plans to purchase Cabela’s for about $65.50 per share in cash, according to a statement Monday.

Cabela’s said on Dec. 1 that it was exploring strategic alternatives. The takeover price represents a 40 percent premium to where its shares were trading that day.

The deal marries Cabela’s 19,000 employees with Bass Pro Shops’ 20,000 and adds 85 Cabela’s stores to Bass Pro Shops’ 99.

Wichita has a Cabela’s store at 21st and Greenwich Road, which opened in 2012.

“Today’s announcement marks an exceptional opportunity to bring together three special companies with an abiding love for the outdoors and a passion for serving sportsmen and sportswomen,” said Morris, chief executive of Bass Pro Shops.

Morris will continue as chief executive and majority shareholder of the company, which will be privately held.

Bass Pro Shops secured $1.8 billion in financing from the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs and $600 million from the private equity firm Pamplona Capital Management.

Cabela’s was founded in Sidney, Neb., by Dick, Mary and Jim Cabela in 1961. Bass Pro Shops indicated it would “maintain important bases of operations in Sidney and Lincoln (Neb.).”

The transaction, subject to regulatory and Cabela’s shareholders’ approvals, is expected to close during the first half of next year.

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Outdoors giant Bass Pro to acquire Cabela’s for $$5.5B."