Legendary Austrian firearms maker Steyr Arms has been purchased by the Czech Republic-based RSBC Investment Group.
RSBC, with its corporate headquarters in Prague, has been in the small arms business for almost a decade, having previously acquired Slovenian gunmaker AREX Defense in 2017. The group announced last week that it had assumed a 100-percent stake in Steyr from the German-based SMH Holding group.
"Steyr Arms has an excellent reputation and tradition in the world," said Robert Schönfeld, founder of the RSBC Group. "It stands for trust and quality. Its products are among the best in the hunting, civilian, and defense sectors. We firmly believe that the range, resources, and deep expertise of RSBC will contribute to the successful growth of Steyr Arms."
The historic company, founded in 1864 in the upper Austrian town of Steyr by gunmakers Josef and Franz Werndl, found fast success in their innovative 11mm M1867 Werndl–Holub breechloading rifle, of which some 600,000 were ordered by the Austrian military and police. Changing the company's name to OWG (Osterreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft = Austrian arms factory company), it followed up with Ferdinand Mannlicher's bolt-action magazine-fed rifle platform in 1886, of which over 3 million were built before 1918.
Remaining foremost a firearms company, it branched out over the years into bicycles, trucks, and automobiles and evolved first into Steyr-Werke AG in 1924 and then to Steyr-Daimler-Puch in 1934.
Following World War II, Steyr made the FN FAL under license for the Austrian military as the StG58, then found international success with the SSG precision rifle and MPi 69/81 submachine gun. In 1977, Steyr introduced the revolutionary AUG bullpup rifle, which was adopted by the Austrian military as the StG 77, followed by the pioneering GB and M series pistols, and the Steyr Scout bolt-action rifle.
By 1989, with the breakup of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate, the firearms and air gun business spun off into the firm of Steyr Mannlicher before morphing into Steyr Arms in 2019. It was purchased by SMH Holding in 2007.
RSBC plans to fold Steyr and AREX into a division headed by current AREX CEO, Tim Castagne, to "enable both companies to offer an all-encompassing portfolio in the future."
