It’s taken nearly two years, but the Cabela’s sale is finally complete. The outdoor outfitter was acquired by Bass Pro Shops, a competitor in the market, for a reported $4 billion after a year of negotiation.
The Cabela’s credit card has been sold to Capital One, which had expressed early interest in the deal, through the intermediary Synovus Bank. Synovus received $75 million and $1.1 billion in deposits for its role. Cabela’s shareholders will receive $61.50 per share as part of the merger.
Cabela’s first announced it was considering a sale in November 2015 after a 21% decline in stock price over the course of the year and an attempt to restructure to reduce expenses. The company had been under pressure to pursue strategic alternatives from Elliott Associates L. P., an activist investor with an 11.1% stake in the company at the time.
The merging companies have similar roots. They were founded a decade apart as family businesses. They emphasized this similarity in a video that was posted to the Bass Pro website to tell customers about the merger.
The future of roughly 2,000 jobs in Cabela’s hometown of Sidney, Nebraska remains unclear. It’s been reported that the combined company headquarters would relocate to Springfield, Missouri, where Bass Pro is based. The company plays an outsized role in the town, which has fewer than 7,000 residents.
