David C. Pratt is an American businessman and philanthropist who from 2006 until bankruptcy in 2016, served as controlling owner, chairman and CEO of Gander Mountain, the largest U.S. retail network of outdoor specialty stores for shooting sports, hunting, fishing and camping.
Pratt, the former chairman and chief executive of pesticide maker United Industries Inc., struck it rich in 1999 when he sold a controlling interest in United to Boston-based Thomas H. Lee Partners for $620 million. United later was sold to the company now known as Spectrum Brands.
Pratt also is a minority owner of the St. Louis Cardinals major league baseball team. In the Rocky Mountain West, Pratt is best known as the developer of Three Forks Ranch, a luxury hunting and fishing resort that straddles northwest Colorado and Wyoming.
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Career
Pratt's investment interest in Gander Mountain, a chain of stores that appeals to outdoor enthusiasts, began in the early 2000s. His Gander Mountain holdings reached 1.4 million shares by early 2005 and, in August of that year, a Pratt family trust infused the company with $20 million more in cash in exchange for a debt note. In December 2006, the Pratt family trust swapped the $20 million debt note and $30 million more in cash for more than 5.7 million additional shares. The deal made Pratt the company's largest shareholder and solidified his appointment as chairman the same month. As of 2016, Gander Mountain has 152 stores in 26 states.
In 1999, Pratt purchased the 200,000-acre Three Forks Ranch in northwest Colorado to raise cattle. He has since spent more than $100 million of his fortune turning the ranch into a luxury hunting and fishing resort, Allison Pratt, Three Forks' marketing director, told Forbes magazine in 2010. "My father wanted to create something people would never expect in this corner of the world," she said.
In 2003, Pratt gave a $6 million challenge grant to St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Mo., to be used for the medical center's new cancer center. At the time, the gift was the largest in the medical center's 132-year history. The cancer center is called The David C. Pratt Cancer Center.
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References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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