GCI Outdoor Acquired by Portfolio Company MacNeill Pride Group
Tennessee-based MacNeill Pride Group snapped up the 25-year-old GCI Outdoor—maker of camping tables, chairs, and other outdoor gear
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As of this week, GCI Outdoor—the quarter-century-old maker of camping tables, chairs, and other outdoor equipment—has a new home: MacNeill Pride Group (MPG), a portfolio company which acquired the brand in a deal announced yesterday.
Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, MPG bills itself as “a diversified global designer and manufacturer of outdoor products and sporting goods,” with brands in its portfolio that produce premium coolers, golf supplies, footwear, and other active-lifestyle products.
“The addition of GCI’s products makes MPG an immediate force in the outdoor recreation market,” said Daniel Brinkenhoff, managing director at Centre Partners, the private equity firm that owns MPG. “Combined with our recent acquisition of [cooler company] Orca, MPG will now offer two powerful, complementary brands with deep customer loyalty across important demographic groups. GCI has a clear track record of customer-focused innovation and product development that will play a significant role in MPG’s go-forward strategy.”
GCI co-founders Dan Grace and Jeff Polke said of the deal, “This transaction is a testament to our unrelenting focus on innovation and product design that has clearly resonated with the outdoor recreation community over the past 25 years.”
Following the acquisition, GCI Outdoors will continue operations at its facility in Higganum, Connecticut, with no interruptions in production or product delivery for the upcoming season.
The brand is currently registered to exhibit at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market happening this August in Denver, Colorado, the trade show’s first in-person staging since moving its operations online during the pandemic.