I recently posted a video of Ian McCollum touring the Sellier & Bellot (S&B) ammunition factory located in Vlašim, in the Czech Republic. In the back of my head, I knew S&B ownership had changed in 2024 but couldn’t recall the details.
S&B is one of the world’s largest ammunition companies and has changed hands a few times. In December 2023, Colt CZ announced it would acquire 100% of Sellier & Bellot from CBC of Brazil. for $703 million, excluding Sellier & Bellot’s net debt. The deal included cash and new Colt CZ common stock. It’s my understanding the deal closed in May 2024.
Okay, being an American, I saw “Colt” and immediately wondered if there was a relationship with the traditional Colt firearms brand in the US. As you often see in the firearms / defense industry, owners may come and go but established brand names rarely die and Samuel Colt’s name and brand continue to live on.
In 2021, the European company Česká zbrojovka Group (CZG) acquired Colt Holding Company, the parent company of Colt Manufacturing Company (CMC), for $220 million. On April 12, 2022, CZG renamed itself Colt CZ Group SE. The interesting thing is that CBC of Brazil is the second largest shareholder of Colt CZ after René Holeček, which owns Česká zbrojovka Partners SE.
The Colt CZ Group now owns quite a few brands including but not limited to:
- BRNO – Firearms
- Colt – Firearms
- CZ (Česká zbrojovka) – Firearms
- Colt Canada – Firearms
- CZ-USA – Firearms
- Dan Wesson – Firearms – notably pistols
- Spuhr – Optical mounts, accessories and upgrade kits
- SwissAA – Small arms ammunition for Europe
- 4M Systems – Tactical equipment
- … plus more that I did not list and their brands page even says there are more.
Summary
The brands continue to move around. Colt is owned by CZ who changed the holding company’s name to “Colt CZ”. They bought S&B in May 2024. So, Colt CZ has a formidable lineup and it’s always interesting to see “who owns whom” at a given time.
I hope you found this interesting.
Note, the logo source was from Wikimedia.
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