UPDATE 3/12/14: Remington has responded to the offer of acquisition and calls it nothing more than a “publicity stunt” by GDSI.

Not everyday that you have a billion dollar plus acquisition in the firearms industry. It’s also not everyday that the purchasing company is a company that has previously invested in “smart gun” technology.

According to a report by CNN Money, Global Digital Solutions has made an offer to purchase Freedom Group, Inc (aka Remington Outdoor Company) for a purchase price of approximately $1.08 billion. The Freedom Group, in addition to the extremely well recognized Remington brand, also owns BUSHMASTER, REMINGTON MILITARY, REMINGTON LE, MARLIN FIREARMS, H&R 1871, DAKOTA ARMS, TAPCO, DPMS, Panther Arms, PARKER GUNMAKERS, BARNES BULLETS, ADVANCED ARMAMENT, and PARA USA.

The deal is not finalized yet and given that I’m not a financial insider, I don’t know how far along in the purchasing process this is and/or how likely it is to be completed. We do know Cerberus Capital Group, the current owner of The Freedom Group, has been looking for a buyer for sometime now.

Now, the question that I’m sure is hot on your mind is, why would a company called Global Digital Solutions, purchase one of the largest gun conglomerates in the US? Well, it seems part of those “digital solutions” is “smart gun” technology. From the CNN Money article,

“This model, which takes advantage of market trends, technological advances and industry consolidations to fuel profitable growth, presents a value proposition that is perfectly suited to the military armament industry, an industry that is heavily fragmented and evolving rapidly toward a RFID/WiFi-enabled technology platform. In this dynamic environment, we see enormous opportunity to consolidate this market with a program of targeted acquisitions, including the proposed Freedom transaction. Technological convergence is the future in the cyber/smart arms arena and we’re eager to leverage our proven history of success by helping Freedom and others navigate the transition from analog to digital. “Our team plans to drive unprecedented consolidation and convergence in the cyber arms arena at least in part through the acquisition strategy outlined in our Form 8-K filing and elsewhere. We’ll also do this by leveraging technologies like GDSI Gatekeeper, which we announced on January 23, 2014. Gatekeeper represents a revolutionary suite of technology-enhanced services that offer personalized, digital small arms safety and security solutions in commercial and military-related markets.

What is this Gatekeeper technology they are speaking of? From a January press release,

Global Digital Solutions, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: GDSI), a company that is positioning itself as a leader in providing cyber arms manufacturing, complementary security and technology solutions and knowledge-based, cyber-related, culturally attuned social consulting in unsettled areas, today announced GDSI Gatekeeper, a revolutionary suite of technology-enhanced services that offer personalized, digital small arms safety and security solutions in commercial and military-related markets. – GDSI Gatekeeper, which combines advanced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology with web-based wireless capabilities, will provide commercial and military customers with three essential safety and security benefits:

– Encrypted, password-protected, digital, trigger-locking capability;

– Secure, real-time online tracking; and

– Encrypted, cloud-enabled databases. “Here in the United States, the right of the people to keep and bear arms is constitutionally protected and inviolable,” Sullivan added. “The Gatekeeper program will provide additional safety and security for law-abiding gun owners in the United States and elsewhere. We believe Gatekeeper’s secure locking and tracking features could encourage millions of people who might have shied away from keeping firearms in their homes because of safety concerns to reconsider. And collectors would be able use make use of Gatekeeper’s tracking and database features to exercise greater control over their prized firearms collections.” While the details of the propriety technologies involved in GDSI Gateway remain confidential – pending appropriate applications for worldwide patent protection – the company plans to showcase the capabilities of GDSI Gatekeeper’s advanced technological solutions in a series of regional demonstrations over the next six-to-twelve months.

This is an extremely interesting development to say the least.