Berger Joins Nammo Group - Lapua

[abraverman]

Nammo is proud to announce that Berger Bullets, a global leader in the manufacturing of premium rifle bullets, has joined the Nammo Group. For over 60 years Berger Bullets has produced the highest quality rifle bullets for varmint hunting, target shooting, game hunting and tactical use. Berger Bullets’ products have established many of the existing national and world records among the top precision oriented rifle shooting events.

Morten Brandtzæg, President and CEO of the Nammo Group says, “Having Berger Bullets on board is the perfect match for Nammo. Their products, which are complementary to our other premium brands, will strengthen our group’s strategic position in the US commercial ammunition market.”

Berger Bullets joins an existing family of premium Nammo commercial ammunition components and ammunitions brands – SK, Vihtavuori and Lapua. The addition of Berger Bullets to Nammo unifies four brands that all share one common goal, which is producing the ultimate in precision performance. The four brands will continue to operate as unique brands servicing precision rifle shooters, while working together to enhance their collective offerings and services.

Raimo Helasmäki, Executive Vice President of Nammo Commercial Ammunition says, “This is a very exciting proposition for Nammo to execute an opportunity to join with a company that has the same passion as we do for precision, performance and serving the needs of the rifle shooters who care most about performance.”

Eric Stecker, President of Berger Bullets said, “Supported by Nammo, Berger will continue to produce the highest quality rifle bullets in the world. Written words fail to describe how excited we are about the future of Berger Bullets and the growth of the other premium Nammo brands within the US market.”

Berger Bullets will continue to operate as they have providing a leadership role in the sponsorship of significant shooting events for the discerning rifle shooter. Walt Berger and Bryan Litz, along with the rest of the existing Berger team, will continue on as part of
Nammo’s US growth plan going forward.

The completion of the acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals by US governmental authorities.

 

[morpheus]

Well this should be interesting...

 

[hoz53]

Yes it should--who are/were the owners of Berger?

 

[Corey Schwanz]

Here is the Berger Blog release as well as some details about past ownership of the company: http://www.bergerbullets.com/berger-bullets-joins-nammo-group/

 

[geo.ulrich]

Yes it should--who are/were the owners of Burger?

Berger bullets was owned by Caran Precision

 

[BenPerfected]

As the world turns.....

 

[Eddie Harren]

Yes it should--who are/were the owners of Burger?

McDonalds! Over 2 Billion sold.

 

[KevinThomas]

So glad to finally get this out. Yes, it's official, welcome aboard Berger and crew! Should be great things ahead for both parties here.

 

[Forum Boss]

Here is our story from the Daily Bulletin, along with the official press release:

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2016/10/berger-bullets-joins-nammo-group/

Breaking News: Berger Bullets Joins Nammo Group
The Nammo Group, parent of Lapua and Vihtavuori, has announced the acquisition of Berger Bullets, one of the USA’s leading bullet makers. With Berger Bullets joining the Nammo Group, this teams America’s ultra-premium bullet-maker with what is arguably the world’s most respected cartridge brass and ammunition-maker. This is huge news. For competition shooters this may be a “marriage made in heaven”. Many top shooters, including champions like Bryan Litz and John Whidden, are already shooting Berger bullets in Lapua brass. This merger will make it easier for the two companies (Berger and Lapua) to optimize the performance of factory ammo, as well as to optimize brass for use with Berger match projectiles.

A spokesman for Lapua said that Lapua will continue to make bullets in Europe while Berger will conduct its regular operations in the USA: “Lapua will still make bullets, and it will be ‘business as usual’ for Berger at this time. There are no plans to change production sites to consolidate product lines. Berger will continue to operate as an independent business, just under the Nammo umbrella.” NOTE: This acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals by U.S. governmental authorities.

On firearm industry analyst believes this merger is a “win-win” for both Berger and Nammo: “This will help Berger export more product to the European market while it will give Nammo a stronger connection to the huge U.S. firearms market, expanding Nammo’s North American customer base”. Nammo president/CEO Morten Brandtzæg concurred, stating: “Having Berger Bullets on board is the perfect match for Nammo. Their products, which are complementary to our other premium brands, will strengthen our group’s strategic position in the U.S. commercial ammunition market.”

Here is the press release issued by the Nammo Group, which is headquartered in Norway and has 2,100 employees in 12 countries:

 

[Forum Boss]

And here are some more comments from Doc Beech of Applied Ballistics:


I would like to emphasize a couple of things before you read on. The [acquisition of Berger Bullets by Nammo] CHANGES NOTHING. Production will remain in the same facility, by the same people, to the same quality. Berger Bullets will remain the highest quality bullets on the market. What this merger does, is it gives opportunity of these companies to work together, to provide the highest quality ammunition. Lapua is well known for its high quality brass, VihtaVuori makes high quality powder, and Berger makes high quality bullets. When you put the three together, you have the possibility of unmatched, premium hand loaded factory ammunition. To be clear, this will not effect the quality or way that Berger Bullets are produced.

Q & A about Berger Bullets Joining Nammo Group
Q. What are Nammo’s plans to do with Berger Bullets?
A. Nammo plans on operating Berger Bullets as a stand-alone brand with support from the Nammo Group in a number of areas. First, they would like to help Berger improve the availability of many of their bullets that are in high demand.

Q. Are you going to eliminate any specific bullets? In other words, do they need to stock up!
A. We have no immediate plans to discontinue any of our bullets. We will continue as a part of our normal business practice to discontinue bullets that have been replaced by a superior product or those that do not have a demand sufficient to warrant allocating time in our production schedule. This is just what we have always done as part of our process.

Q. Is Bryan Litz still going to be the ballistician for Berger Bullets?
A. Yes. Bryan is an important part of the Berger Bullet team and our plans definitely include keeping Bryan on as our lead ballistician.

Q. Is Eric Stecker going to remain in charge of Berger Bullets?
A. Eric Stecker will continue as President of Berger Bullets

Q. Are the same dealers going to carry Berger Bullets?
A. Yes, we have no plans to change the way we distribute Berger Bullets to the shooting community.

Q. Does this mean ABM Ammo will have direct access to components like Powder and Brass?
A. Yes.
__________________
Doc Beech – Applied Ballistics
doc.beech@appliedballisticsllc.com
www.abmediaresources.com – www.appliedballisticsllc.com

 

[geo.ulrich]

So what does this mean for j-4 jackets were they bought also

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

If I read this correctly, Berger is now, as with so many American Companies, owned by a foreign corporation.

I just hope that production will remain here, and not moved overseas...

 

[BP1]

I hope the price doesn't go up.

 

[Grimstod]

Berger is a US based company. Lapua isn't. If Hillary does indeed get in. She is going to tax imports esp gun related. So high it will bankrupt them and us So this could be bad news unless trump wins.

 

[KevinThomas]

If I read this correctly, Berger is now, as with so many American Companies, owned by a foreign corporation.

I just hope that production will remain here, and not moved overseas...

It will quite likely move; to Arizona, where Walt originally started the company. Eric has been wanting to get out of CA for quite some time. Anyone who has ever tried to manufacture in CA will have no problem at all understanding his reasoning. No, there's no possibility whatsoever of Berger leaving the US.

 

[Tommie]

To Berger bullet users, Eric and Bryan are like family members. I certainly hope both men will indeed remain with the newly-acquired Berger Bullets.

 

[people]

I hope the price doesn't go up.

You know they will. Berger will have to pay back what they were bought for. That will drive up prices.

 

[Grimstod]

It will quite likely move; to Arizona, where Walt originally started the company. Eric has been wanting to get out of CA for quite some time. Anyone who has ever tried to manufacture in CA will have no problem at all understanding his reasoning. No, there's no possibility whatsoever of Berger leaving the US.

The way the laws are writen they can easaly use foren ownership as an axcuse to label it imported even if it is made here. Democrats will do anything to make it harder to get bullets.

 

[whatwind?]

They will do what's best for the bottom line, I hope this does not mean only selling complete ammunition at $4 per round for 6.5 creedmoor, with lapua brass, vhita 150 powder and 140 gr berger hybrid...
Similar to Remington...I guess this vertical integration gets them in more rifles if Remington will only use their own brands

This probably allows them to go after US government contracts for complete packages as American manufacturers.....b/c I assume Berger could get loans from any bank at stupid low rates in the world today to improve the assembly line

 

[ireload2]

The Europeans seem to be almost totally inept when marketing in the US.
All we seem to get from them are high prices and limited availability of their products.
Their own internal business practices and tax structures seem to make them unable to deal with the US market.