Vista Outdoor shares climb after receving bid from Czech gunmaker Colt CZ

Investing.com -- Shares in Vista Outdoor (NYSE:VSTO) jumped in premarket U.S. trading on Friday after the American sporting goods firm announced that it had received an unsolicited cash-and-stock merger offer from Czech gunmaker Colt CZ Group.

The proposed tie-up would value Vista's stock at a little over a 16% premium to its last closing price, roughly translating to a valuation of around $1.7 billion, according to Investing.com calculations.

The announcement was made after the close of U.S. trading on Wednesday. Markets on Wall Street were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

Minnesota-based Vista had previously said in October that it had agreed to offload its sporting products business, which includes its guns and ammunition division, to privately-held Czechoslovak Group (CSG) in a $1.91B all-cash deal.

Under Colt's plan, the move to separate Vista would be scrapped. Colt argued that this would allow for "continued upside" for Vista shareholders.

Vista noted in a statement that had yet to make "any determination with respect to the [Colt proposal] within the framework contemplated by the existing merger agreement with CSG, which remains in effect, nor has it changed its recommendation in support of the acquisition of its Sporting Products business by CSG." It added that it will "carefully review" Colt's offer.