Colt buys H&K

P

plateshooter

New member
According to Reuters NY, Colt is buying H&K for 100 million. I wonder if this will dry up the HK handguns too.

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Good shootin to ya
Plateshooter
 
Paper: Colt's to Buy German Arms Maker
December 29, 1999 4:27 am EST


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Colt's Manufacturing Co. agreed to acquire German small-arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH for slightly more than $100 million, or 98.7 million euros, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The deal demonstrates Colt's continued shift away from the besieged civilian handgun industry, the newspaper said.

Colt's is controlled by a New York investment group headed by Donald Zilkha. Heckler & Koch is owned by a unit of British Aerospace PLC, now operating as BAE Systems.

Colt's plans to phase out much or all of Heckler & Koch's U.S. pistol sales, the Wall Street Journal said.

Colt's began exiting the handgun business last autumn, partly in response to a raft of lawsuits filed in 28 U.S. municipalities.

The combined company would be in a formidable position to compete for military rifle and grenade launcher contracts, John Rigas, a partner in the Zilkha investment firm, told the Wall Street Journal. He told the newspaper he expects the combined company to have revenue of about $300 million in 2000.






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Did you ever stop to think...
And then forget to start over again?

Jim

www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/3887/home.html
 
Essentially, civilians can waive good bye to any HK pistols/products in the future???

Waive good bye to USP? P7?

Well at least "SIG" will still be around. Or will it???

Again, will it ever end?

Let the PANIC buying begin!!!
 
Where there is a void in the market someone with balls will step in to fill it. If H&K and Colt pass out of the market it will leave more market share for someone else. I am partial to Smith and Wesson and Sig anyway. When Smith and Wesson punks us then Hell will soon freeze over...
 
This is the philosphy that Zihlka holds to. This guy is a staunch Democrat with dual citizenship in Iraq. He could care less about our RKBA.

Folks the handwriting is on the wall. Colt,HK and now Glock are doing whatever is necessary to save their own skin and I predict you will continue to see them take the path of least resistance and back away from civiliam sales as profitable as they may be. Don't forget that Sig claims to have come up with a smart gun. S&W is foreign owned as well......Suddenly Ruger is starting to look better all the time. They may not be pretty or precise but they work!!!

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."


[This message has been edited by Will Beararms (edited December 29, 1999).]
 
I wonder if anyone asked HK stockholders how they felt about this sale. Given Colts reputation for extreme mismanagement, it's hard to see how anyone involved with HK could see this as an intelligent business decision. As an HK consumer my reaction to this move is the same as if I had heard that Porche was being acquired by Yugo.Depressing.
 
As I sit here and wipe the tears from my eyes and check my pulse which is now at 120 I simply have to say "screwed again".

Colts controlling H&K?. We are being defeated from the inside out my friends. This is just one more step towards controlling us, IMO.

FULL ALERT I say. God help us all!
 
This is really true? If so can somebody set up a link for me so I can find the article? I tried searching Yahoo with no success. I'm suddenly tasting bile!
 
Most companies exist only to make money.
Since I'm a prof I get to talk to business
and economics profs a lot. The typical company
today cares nothing except for profit.

So Colt screws the RKBA. Business types are
taught to screw employess on salary and benefits if they can. They take a "course"
on "ethics" which is basically how to avoid
the atrocities that cause bad PR.

Think of the baby food execs who sold colored water instead of juice to infants.

Given the political will in the US is turning
away from the RKBA - companies follow the profit flow - not ideology. Heck, US companies
did business with the Nazis during the war.
Look at the Swiss - wasn't their guns that
kept Hitler away - they did business according to recent analysis.

Rant mode -on - time not to buy a Colt or
even buy a Colt as a collectible. Same for
HK. Let the dealer that have them sell them
at cost and restock with other brands.

I personally think that as a dealer if
you start raising the prices to get the suckers who swarm to such items - this is not right.

I grant you that you may need to maintain
a profit flow but get out quickly.
 
My question is WHERE IS COLT GOING TO GET THE MONEY? They have had problems (lots of problems) paying creditors, making payroll and the unions have backed away from refinance plans. I'll believe it when I see the final papers on the deal.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Damn you Colt!!!!!
O well, I guess my urge for a MK23, Tactical, Compact .357 sig USP are all justified now, i need them now!!!!
Is this buyout official, or is it a proposed buyout?
 
Try the link I provided above.


It begins by reading "Colt's Mfg Co. agreed (agreed it says) to acquire German small-arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch Gmbh......."

It does not say that H&K and Colt closed any sort of deal. It does seem to imply though, that an offer was on the table and that Colts agreed to take it up. Who really knows?

Don't forget who we are dealing with here. The @#$%^&(*)Media!
 
Let's see: Zilkha contributes to gun bigots' campaigns, destroys Colt, then buys HK. Any guesses on his intentions?


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"The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it."
-- John Hay, 1872
 
Where did a nearly bankrupt company get the money? I am not big on conspiracy theories, but could the UN or Bill C. be chipping in to reduce arms companies to one or two biggies who will stop civilian sales?

Jim
 
Like Glenn Meyer says, companies are in business to make money. I have less of a problem philosophically with a Colt/H&K hook-up that I do with Gaston Glock lining up with the "Clintonistas" to waste $20 million (American taxpayer $) on the Socialists latest goofy PR stunt - "fingerprinting" cartridge casings!
 
Welp, if anybody can run a company into the ground, it's the British!

Them that likes HKs, like 'em a lot. On the other hand, I have never been partial to them.

HK started from IIRC MauserWerke who made the MG42 (or HK stole the design) I forget which. There is nothing about HKs that appeals to me. Now the MG42, on the other hand!

If the rumor is true, looks like Colt is going to try to corner the market on Assault Weapons, big time.

As far as the clunky HK pistols, I estimate they could be mass produced for about $25 apiece. Quite a nice profit margin compared to ol' slabsides which might cost $150 - $200 per unit. The HK assault rifles would be at least as cheap to produce as the AR15, so again, a big profit maker.

Me, I'll stick to my ol' COLT AR15s and Gummint Models. :)



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Be mentally deliberate but muscularly fast. Aim for just above the belt buckle Wyatt Earp
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG
"It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself." Tom Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1785
We don't have a chaplain here, but I don't view that as any major problem... You can rest assured
that you will not go in that bag until I've said a few appropriate words over you
R. Lee Ermy as Sgt Major Haffner, from The Siege of Firebase Gloria
If you have to shoot a man, shoot him in the guts. It may not kill him... sometimes they die slow, but it'll paralyze his brain and arm and the fight is all but over Wild Bill Hickok
 
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