RUAG International to sell ammo business to Beretta

RUAG International's Ammotec division makes ammunition for the Heckler & Koch USP Compact pistol, among other guns. (RUAG International)

Switzerland's RUAG International plans to sell its ammunition-making Ammotec business unit to Italian gun manufacturer Beretta Holding as part of its portfolio reshaping effort, RUAG International announced on 9 March.

Beretta will gain all of Ammotec's production and sales sites and 2,700 employees, boosting its workforce to more than 6,000. Beretta has committed to maintaining Ammotec's site in Thun, Switzerland, which has about 400 employees, for at least five years.

The transaction is expected to close in “several months” after receiving regulatory approval, a RUAG spokesperson said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to the announcement, Ammotec and Beretta have complementary portfolios. Ammotec makes small-calibre ammunition for defence, law enforcement, hunting, and sporting, while Beretta makes light firearms, such as pistols and rifles, for those same markets. “There is almost no overlap” between the two companies' product lines, Beretta president and CEO Pietro Gussalli Beretta said.

Ammotec is one of several businesses that RUAG is unloading to shift its focus to the growing space market. RUAG intends to divest its Aerostructures and MRO International divisions, and it announced in November 2021 that it is negotiating the sale of MRO International's Simulation & Training (S&T) business to France's Thales Group. RUAG plans to rename its Space division as Beyond Gravity in May.