Regulators get more time to review Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops merger

Two outdoors companies have given federal trade regulators more time to review their proposed $5 billion merger. 

In a securities filing Monday, Cabela’s Inc. said it had agreed to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “timing agreement” that gives the government until July 5 to consider Bass Pro Shops’ proposed takeover of the company.

The two companies had previously aimed to finalize their merger by the end of June.

{mosads}In its filing, the company said the FTC requested a longer timeline that would “enable the FTC staff to brief the FTC commissioners on the merger and to address any questions the FTC commissioners may have.” The companies are now aiming to finalize the merger within the next three months.

Bass Pro Shops said in October that it would buy Cabela’s for $5.5 billion, creating a new giant outdoors gear chain consisting of nearly 200 locations across the U.S.

But the terms of the deal have changed amid financial and regulatory scrutiny. 

The price of the proposed merger fell by $500 million in April, and Cabela’s said at the time that it would sell off its bank unit to a financial services corporation as part of the transaction. 

Cabela’s shareholders are due to vote on its sale on July 11, according to the filing. The company reported last week that it faces at least four class-action lawsuits from shareholders stemming from the merger.