(Spirit Lake)– One of Dickinson county’s largest employers has been sold in a 400 million dollar cash transaction.
Jarden Outdoor Solutions Group announced this (Tuesday) afternoon it’s purchased Spirit Lake-based Pure Fishing.
Tom Bedell, interim President of Pure Fishing, and Gary Kiedaisch, President of Jarden Outdoor Solutions, made the announcement at a joint press conference. Bedell says they’ve been in talks since last February and consumated the deal last Friday.
Bedell and Kiedaisch said no major changes will be made in Pure Fishing’s operations as a result of the announcement. They said Pure Fishing’s headquarters will remain in Spirit Lake and that it will be business as usual for the company.
Kiedaisch said putting Pure Fishing under the Jarden Outdoor Solutions umbrella, the parent company of Coleman Outdoor Products, is a natural and will be a win-win for everyone involved in the transaction. Combined, Kiedaisch said the two companies will have just under 1.2 billion dollars in revenue.
Kiedaisch says for what Pure Fishing could buy products for and what it could negotiate service contracts for was on a much smaller platform than what they do at Coleman. He says the Jarden company, with just under four billion dollars in annual revenue, adds even more synergy to the deal. Kiedaisch pledged to keep Pure Fishing operating as a separate company, with it’s own independent President and headquarters in Spirit Lake. Bedell will continue to serve as Pure Fishing’s President on an interim basis.
Kiedaisch added the acquisition of Pure Fishing will also give it access to capital for any future expansion possibility.
Pure Fishing employs about 450 people full-time at its Spirit Lake headquarters, along with some temporary help. The company operates in 19 other locations worldwide.
