Bass Pro Shops buys maker of Ranger, Triton and Stratos boats

[MSUDawg4Life]

LINK

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 11, 2014) - Platinum Equity today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell Fishing Holdings, LLC, the Flippin, Arkansas-based manufacturer of the Ranger Boats, Stratos and Triton fishing boat brands, to Bass Pro Group, LLC.

The pending transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

[BeastMan]

Gotta assume they are eliminating some lines. I know the bass ranger and triton brand loyals are sweating this one out

[Barking 13]

It was bound to happen... the market for 30-60k rigs is rapidly decreasing and the whole industry is gobbling itself up.. There are a few brands competing in that price range (phoenix, legend) that have been picking up some steam the past few years and Rangers are not the gold standard they once were. It's the same in this business as any other. BPS, while already it's own boat manufacturer (Tracker / Nitro), just basically made themselves able to decrease the capacity in the market in order to have the opportunity to manipulate the market (price) to meet the demand.(or increase it)

ETA: Platinum Equities (Irwin Jacobs) was probably ready to move out of the industry and move on to something else..

[BeastMan]

On the saltwater side of things, both ranger and triton make good bay boats. Tons of guides run the triton bays. I'm sure they're going to drop one of those lines and I'd guess Ranger if I had too. The biggest concern I've heard is that the quality will now drop. Nautic Star (a MS company) stands to really clean up locally if triton and ranger quality falls off.

[Bass Chaser]

I don't see them eliminating Ranger or Triton, Stratos maybe. PE eliminated ChampioN when they bought this group a couple of years ago. Price on bass boats is unbelievable because of all the accessories - power poles, hydraulic jack plates, graphs, etc.

It's hard for me to see the market decreasing when I see the cost of boats continuing to go up. BassCat released a 19'8" boat this year that's listed for $56K.

[State82]

Wow. I missed that news item. I haven't been checking BassFan.com regularly but went back and read their article on it from 12/11 after the announcement. It said that although financial details were not released, Platinum was asking $250 million for the three brands earlier in the fall. They had acquired them in 2010 from Genmar in a bankruptcy transaction I believe. The whole bass boat industry has always baffled me. It is beyond me how that many companies can exist manufacturing products in this particular niche that have MSRP that can exceed $70,000. I know that you can get an economy package in the 18' range for half that, but still, its mindboggling what some of those rigs are bringing. Just don't understand how they make it.

[MSUDawg4Life]

On the saltwater side of things, both ranger and triton make good bay boats. Tons of guides run the triton bays. I'm sure they're going to drop one of those lines and I'd guess Ranger if I had too. The biggest concern I've heard is that the quality will now drop. Nautic Star (a MS company) stands to really clean up locally if triton and ranger quality falls off.

I hope it's not Ranger. My favorite bass boat and bay boat are both Rangers.

[BeastMan]

I hope it's not Ranger. My favorite bass boat and bay boat are both Rangers.

It was just a guess and I was talking strictly saltwater. Ranger's bass boats probably has the most dedicated following in the entire boat market.

[Johnson85]

It was just a guess and I was talking strictly saltwater. Ranger's bass boats probably has the most dedicated following in the entire boat market.

I wouuld have guessed they'd keep triton too. I hardly ever see a ranger boat but I don't really do any bass fishing. Wonder if it would make sense for them to make Ranger bass boats and Triton bay and offshore.

[Johnson85]

Wow. I missed that news item. I haven't been checking BassFan.com regularly but went back and read their article on it from 12/11 after the announcement. It said that although financial details were not released, Platinum was asking $250 million for the three brands earlier in the fall. They had acquired them in 2010 from Genmar in a bankruptcy transaction I believe. The whole bass boat industry has always baffled me. It is beyond me how that many companies can exist manufacturing products in this particular niche that have MSRP that can exceed $70,000. I know that you can get an economy package in the 18' range for half that, but still, its mindboggling what some of those rigs are bringing. Just don't understand how they make it.

I don't get it either. I know one thing that helps them is they will finance those things over an absurd period. You can finance a new 21 foot boat over 15 years. And without a ridiculous down payment or interest rate. They must have insanely fat profit margins for that to work, because the boat purchasers are basically underwater for the first 10 years of the loan.