After bad bets on cars and home loans, Cerberus Capital Management is turning to guns and bullets. [More]As an aside, good grief on that photo.
Again I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, an infusion of capital along with efficiencies of into the firearms industry can be a good thing. Assuming the procured companies aren't just going to be bled and discarded.
It would be nice to think those running a gun consortium would have motives that include a principled defense of the Second Amendment. We're told the Number Two guy ran for NRA Board and belongs to an upscale club, and the Number One guy hunts deer.
Then we see from Open Secrets that Cerberus donated money to the likes of Carl Levin, Barbara Mikulsi, Barney Frank, although they and CEO Feinberg also donate to the Repubs.
Typical politics, I guess. And typical cynicism about it from me.
[Via Mama Liberty]
Have we forgotten the Bangor-Punta Smith&Wessons already?
ReplyDeleteThat may be typical cynicism, but it's also appropriate.
ReplyDeleteIt borders on the naive to expect a third party to successfully negotiate on one's behalf, by going to the bargaining table with nothing to offer in exchange.
It is also not a good idea to rely on bribery, since continued support depends on continued payment.
In the long run it hurts the cause, because the represented no longer remember how to fight, and often have no idea what arguments are being made by their representatives.
One will have to peruse the offering documents to see how much of the Freedom Group is being retained by Cerberus and how well capitalized the new company will be. If it's a full disgorgement-kick-it-out-of-the-nest-IPO, then that would be a *bad* thing. Smart players like Cerberus hang onto big chunks for some upside, if there is any upside.
ReplyDeleteCompanies issue stock IPOs under two circumstances:
1) when the MUST, for liquidity's sake, or
2) when idiots buy anything at any wild price ($1600 plain-Jane AR-15A1 and $1 a rd .223, for instance) and they'd be stupid NOT to.
What photo?
ReplyDeleteIt's either been removed, or buried under so many layers of scripting that Firefox with a few "mandatory" security add-ons treats it like the security rick that it is (and doesn't show it).