Olin Winchester Acquire AMMO, Inc. Manufacturing Assets

This week Olin Winchester acquired AMMO’s 185,000 square foot manufacturing and ballistic testing facility in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The deal covers the assets, employees and ammunition manufacturing capability of AMMO.

This means that AMMO, the parent company of GunBroker.com, have divested from their manufacturing business to recentre around GunBroker. In a press release announcing the sale and transition AMMO explained that “The Company intends to focus resources on scaling its digital platform, improving user experience, and unlocking additional value for shareholders.”

“This transaction marks a defining moment in AMMO’s evolution,” said Christos Tsentas, Chair of the Board’s M&A Committee. “After a thorough strategic review and collaboration with our financial and legal advisors, we are confident this sale will unlock significant value and enable AMMO to accelerate growth as a pure-play e-commerce platform. GunBroker.com is already the leader in the online firearms marketplace, and we expect this streamlined focus will allow us to double down on innovation, user engagement, and long-term profitability.”

In a separate statement Olin explained that:

“The assets, employees and ammunition business are now part of Olin's Winchester Ammunition business, including the brass shellcase capabilities and a newly constructed, world-class, 185,000 square foot production facility located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The facility and its skilled employees complement Winchester's existing production capabilities, enabling greater specialization and broader participation across a variety of high-margin, specialty calibers.”

Olin expects that once fully integrated, this acquisition is expected to yield adjusted EBITDA (​​Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of $40 million per year with full realization of synergies.

"During our recent Investor Day, we committed to our capital allocation framework," said Olin's President and CEO, Ken Lane. "Like the White Flyer acquisition in 2023, this acquisition furthers our Winchester strategy to identify and secure small, bolt-on opportunities that are highly strategic and immediately accretive to Olin. By year three, we expect to have paid one and a half times adjusted EBITDA for these world-class assets."

Brett Flaugher, President of Winchester Ammunition, noted:

"The specialization of the Manitowoc facility will expand our reach into higher-value commercial, as well as international military and law enforcement calibers, while deepening our near full integration across the ammunition value chain. This shift enables our larger, legacy plants to focus on high-volume products and growing our cost advantage."

Winchester Olin are one of the largest and best established ammunition manufacturers in the U.S. The acquisition of AMMO, Inc’s manufacturing assets in Wisconsin will expand their manufacturing capacity while AMMO will now focus on growing the firearms e-commerce space through GunBroker.com.