Czechoslovak Group (CSG) has acquired a majority 70% stake in Italian ammunition manufacturer Fiocchi. The family-owned business has been producing ammunition since the late 1870s and CSG’s announcement states that the Fiocchi family will retain a minority stake in the company. CSG’s portfolio covers a range of sectors including aerospace, defense and the automotive industry.
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Here’s the announcement in full:
Czechoslovak Group (CSG) has acquired a 70 percent stake in Fiocchi Munizioni, the manufacturer of small-caliber ammunition. CSG said it would partner with the current shareholders, the Fiocchi family and Charme Capital Partners, each retaining a minority stake for continued growth.
Founded in 1876 in Lecco, Italy, Fiocchi Munizioni designs, manufactures, and sells small caliber ammunition for shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement, under the Fiocchi, Baschieri & Pellagri and Lyalvale global brands. Fiocchi Munizioni has three vertically integrated industrial and commercial platforms in Italy, the U.S. (where Fiocchi has been present for more than 40 years) and the U.K. Fiocchi has a “wide range of proprietary product and process technologies in critical areas, including rare primer production capabilities, developed through a continuous in-house proprietary innovation activity.” Fiocchi Munizioni is expected to record consolidated revenues “exceeding €380 million ($397 mm) in 2022” and employs more than 1300 people worldwide.
CSG, based in Prague, Czech Republic, is an industrial group active in five business segments—aerospace, defense, automotive, railways, and business projects, where it operates at a global level. CSG is 100 percent controlled and led by Michal Strnad and employs more than 8,000 people worldwide. The company owns and manages a portfolio of industrial and trade companies across the civil and defense sectors. Over the years, CSG has entered strategic partnerships with European and U.S. multinational companies including General Dynamics, Siemens, Stadler, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus, Nexter Systems, and Rheinmetall.
The transaction acquires a 70 percent stake in Fiocchi Munizioni by CSG in partnership with the Fiocchi family and Charme Capital Partners, which will maintain the remaining 30 percent stake to see the continuity of its 146-year history and with the recent development since the acquisition by Charme Capital Partners at the end of 2017.
Michal Strnad, Chairman of CSG, commented on the transaction: “This transaction marks a major milestone for the entire CSG, as the investment in Fiocchi is the largest financial investment in the history of our group. Today we become the majority shareholder and partner of a global leader in the field of small-caliber ammunition, with a solid presence in NATO countries. Fiocchi Munizioni, like CSG, has been built by several generations of the Fiocchi family. We consider the Fiocchi family’s commitment to the management and development of the company to be a strong asset and we want to further develop the company in close partnership with them. We also deeply appreciate and respect what Charme Capital Partners has been able to achieve over the last five years, and we will treasure its precious legacy going forward thanks to its reinvestment as a minority shareholder.”
Stefano Fiocchi, Fiocchi Munizioni Chairman, and representative of the Fiocchi family, added: “Our family has supported Fiocchi Munizioni since 1876, when it was founded by my ancestor Giulio Fiocchi. A few years ago, we decided to open our family business with a new partnership with Charme Capital Partners to foster Fiocchi Munizioni’s growth, implement a modern managerial approach and eventually strengthen our leadership position globally. We are grateful to Charme Capital Partners for the success that we have built together. Today we welcome a new strategic partner that will be able to guide Fiocchi Munizioni to new achievements. I believe that my family and Michal Strnad share a similar entrepreneurial culture and a true desire to grow the business of Fiocchi Munizioni and CSG. We are looking forward to the future together with the CSG.”
Maurizio Negro, Fiocchi Munizioni CEO, commented: “The partnership established between Charme Capital Partners and the Fiocchi family has been instrumental in achieving outstanding growth and international expansion over the last five years. This was also made possible thanks to all the people that work for Fiocchi Munizioni and share a true passion for what we do every day. We are now pleased to become part of CSG, with whom we share a deep industrial and international culture. I am sure that this new chapter in Fiocchi Munizioni’s history will be marked by continued solid growth and by a further strengthening of our leadership position worldwide.”