A Native American tribe in California is looking to make a bid for Colt Holding Co., the 179-year-old gun manufacturer, according to a tribal attorney, Reuters reported yesterday. "Colt is an iconic business and we're sort of intensely interested in helping a business like that," Drew Ryce, attorney for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. The firearms manufacturer filed for bankruptcy on June 14 and is considering putting itself up for sale. Ryce said that the Banning, Calif.-based tribe was looking to diversify its economy and an East Coast manufacturer would balance the tribe's focus on retail, gambling and hospitality in Southern California. The manufacturer is controlled by Sciens Capital Management, a private equity firm that had proposed buying Colt in a sale that would not include any cash but would assume Colt's obligations, other than $250 million of bonds.
