Beretta launches takeover bid for 20.05% of US-based Sturm Ruger
The Italian arms holding company already has 9.95 per cent of the company listed on Wall Street. On the stock exchange, the stock rose as much as 6.95 per cent
by Mara Monti
Beretta Holding, the Luxembourg-based Italian company, announced plans to launch a tender offer for up to 20.05% of the shares of US arms manufacturer Sturm Ruger at $44.80 per share, the latest move in an increasingly tense dispute between the two companies. On Wall Street, the stock rose as much as 6.95 per cent to $43.57 and had closed Tuesday, the day before the announcement, at $40.74. The proposed price represents a premium of about 20 per cent to the average price over the past 60 days. Ruger has a market capitalisation of $683.4 million and at yesterday's prices the 20 per cent share is worth about $130 million.
Beretta Holding is already the largest shareholder in the US company with 9.95 per cent: the newly launched offer would take it to a total of 30 per cent.
In a letter to the board sent today, 25 March, Beretta Holding's CEO Robert Eckert requested a waiver of the 'poison pill' defence mechanism adopted by the company on 14 October 2025. Beretta has given a deadline of the end of March to lift this mechanism.
"We do not aim to take control of Ruger," Eckert wrote, "but our strong desire and hope was, and remains, to enter into a strategic partnership with the company. Last month, Beretta had launched a proxy fight (Proxy Fight) to succeed in appointing four of its representatives out of nine board members at the forthcoming shareholders' meeting on 29 May, with the aim of putting pressure on the board to reach an agreement.
Beretta Holding described itself as a strategic partner rather than a direct competitor, pointing out that its sales in the US focus mainly on shotguns, ammunition, and optics. The company said it employs nearly 700 people in nine US entities. And it rejects definitions given to the group of having engaged in 'creeping acquisitions'.
