Recent Developments
Sale of Liberty Safe
On July 16, 2021, the company, as majority stockholder of Liberty Safe Holding Corporation (“Liberty Safe”) and as sellers representative, entered into a stock purchase agreement with Independence Buyer, Inc. (“Liberty Buyer”), Liberty Safe and the other holders of stock and options of Liberty Safe, which was further amended on August 3, 2021 (as so amended, the “Liberty Purchase Agreement”). Pursuant to the Liberty Purchase Agreement, on August 3, 2021, Liberty Buyer acquired all of the issued and outstanding securities of Liberty Safe, except that certain investors in Liberty Safe, instead of selling all of the shares of Liberty Safe owned by them to Liberty Buyer, contributed a portion of such shares to an indirect parent company of Liberty Buyer in exchange for equity securities of such entity.
The sale price of Liberty Safe was based on an aggregate total enterprise value of $147.5 million, subject to customary adjustments. After these adjustments, as well as for an allocation to Liberty Safe’s non-controlling shareholders and the payment of transaction expenses, we received approximately $127 million of total proceeds from the sale at closing in respect of our debt and equity interests in Liberty Safe. We expect to record a gain of approximately $75 million to $85 million from the sale. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to fund the special distribution of $0.88 per common share in connection with the tax reclassification of the trust.
For more information about the sale of Liberty Safe, see our Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on July 19, 2021 and August 3, 2021, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Amendments to Trust Agreement and LLC Agreement
At the special meeting of shareholders of the trust held on August 3, 2021, the shareholders of the trust approved (i) amendments to the trust agreement to authorize the company, acting through its board of directors, to cause the trust to elect to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, without further approval of the shareholders, (ii) amendments to the trust agreement to authorize the company, acting through its board of directors, to, at its election in the future, cause the trust to be converted to a corporation, without further approval of the shareholders, and (iii) amendments to the LLC agreement to authorize the board of directors of the company to, if the trust is converted to a corporation, amend the LLC agreement as the board determines is necessary or appropriate to reflect such conversion, without further approval of the members of the company. The trust agreement and the LLC agreement, which reflect the above amendments as well as certain other changes, are filed as exhibits to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on August 4, 2021, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Election of Trust to Be Treated As Corporation
The trust has elected to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes effective September 1, 2021 (the “Election”), prior to which the trust had elected to be treated as a partnership, or pass-through entity, for federal income tax purposes since January 1, 2007. On August 3, 2021, in order to offset a portion of the tax liability to the shareholders as result of the Election, the board of directors of the company declared a special cash distribution of $0.88 per share on the trust’s common shares. The distribution on the common shares is payable on September 7, 2021 to all holders of record of common shares as of the close of business on August 31, 2021.
Following the Election, determinations, declarations, and payments of distributions to holders of our common shares will continue to be at the sole discretion of the board of directors of the company. Historically, our distribution policy has been to make regular distributions on outstanding common shares, and we expect to continue this policy of regular distributions. However, because the trust will incur entity level income taxes following the Election, we expect to reduce our annual distribution from the current $1.44 per common share per year to approximately $1.00 per common share per year. Our distribution policy may be changed at any time at the discretion of the board.
Proposed IPO of 5.11
On August 10, 2021, one of our subsidiaries, 5.11 ABR Corp. (“5.11”), confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the SEC relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares of 5.11’s common stock to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.