Ciba
c.1859 Company founded as the Society of Chemical Industry in BAsel
1916 Swiss Colour Works (involving the Society of Chemical Industry, Sandoz Chemical Co, Messrs Geigy, and Messrs Durand and Hugenin) were recognised by the British Cotton and Wool Dyers Association for their contribution to maintaining supplies of dyes in the face of the German embargo. [1]
1948 Ciba acquired a majority interest in Aero Research Ltd
1961 Formed UK subsidiary: Ciba, United Kingdom Ltd, which acquired the 3 existing subsidiaries (manufacturing pharmaceuticals, selling dyestuffs, and producing synthetic resins and adhesives), as well as the controlling interest in Clayton Aniline Co[2]
1966 Ciba and ICI acquired all outstanding shares of Ilford.
1960s CIBA was one of the companies granted a licence by the NRDC to research methods of producing the Cephalosporin C nucleus.[3]
1969 CIBA became sole owner of Ilford when it acquired ICI's shares and planned to increase its photographic business.
By 1970, CIBA UK included[4]:
- Ilford
- CIBA Laboratories at Horsham
- CIBA (A.R.L.), including William Aske and Co of Halifax
- CIBA Clayton in Manchester
- CIBA Agrochemicals at Whittlesford, Cambs.
1970 Ciba merged with another Swiss chemical company, J. R. Geigy (founded in Basel in 1758), forming Ciba-Geigy Ltd
1989 Sold Ilford to International Paper Co
1992 Pharmaceuticals and agri-business sales accounted for 60 percent of the total; sales of industrial chemicals dropped slightly[5]
1996 Ciba-Geigy merged with another Swiss chemical company, Sandoz, to form Novartis. The speciality additives business, which made additives for the plastics, coating and paper industries, was spun-out as Ciba[6]
1998 Acquired Allied Colloids[7]
2009 BASF acquired Ciba Holding AG on April 9, 2009. Almost all of the Ciba businesses were integrated into the Performance Products segment of BASF.