Williams Holdings
Industrial conglomerate
1982 Brian McGowan and Nigel Rudd took control of W. Williams and Sons of Caerphilly through Rudd's property and engineering group C. Price, with the aim of turning Williams around and then investing in other specialised engineering concerns[1].
1983 The name had been changed to Williams Holdings, of Monmouth; merger talks with Garford-Lilley[2]
1984 Acquired Aircraft Engineering Components and Blackwood Hodge Vehicles[3]. Also acquired Penine chain and Blakeys malleable castings businesses from AI[4]
By 1984 Leys Foundries and Engineering was a subsidiary[5]
1985 Acquired V. Tillotson (Engineering)[6], and J. and H. B. Jackson[7] but disposed of the scrap metal part of the business[8]. Acquired Rawlplug[9]/
1986 Acquired Spencer-Clark Metal Industries[10], Fairey Engineering makers of military bridges, from Pearson[11], and Duport, the largest of 5 acquisitions in the past 15 months[12]. Acquired London and Midland Industrials, a holding company[13].
1986 Williams sold 21 subsidiaries to Haleworth, a newly formed company[14]
1987 Acquired Crown Paints and Polycell divisions from Reed International[15]; later bought Berger, Jenson and Nicholson from Hoechst[16].
1988 Acquired L. F. Knight maker of wooden summerhouses, to complement its Amdega conservatory subsidiary.[17]; bid for Yale and Valor[18]; acquired Newage Transmissions[19]; acquired Smallbone Kitchens[20]. Sold 2 North American plastics subsidiaries[21]. Sold 5 subsidiaries to Haden MacLellan Holdings[22]. Acquired Pilgrim House.
1989 Sold MTE, Philidas, Integrated Photomatrix, and Printed Motors (acquired as part of Pilgrim House) to B. Elliott and Co[23]
1990 Nobel Industries Sweden bought Crown Berger from Williams[24]
1991 Acquired Yale and Valor[25]
1993 Management buyout of the engineering division of Williams Holdings Plc; Newage Transmissions Ltd became part of Cortworth Plc in 1993.
By 1997 had acquired the Kidde fire extinguisher business; then purchased Fyrnetics which added to the Kidde business[26]
2000 The group was broken up; Yale was sold to Assa Abloy of Sweden[27]; Chubb and Kidde were floated on the Stock Exchange[28].
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Feb 09, 1982
- ↑ The Times, Oct 25, 1983
- ↑ The Times, May 12, 1984
- ↑ The Times, Jun 29, 1984
- ↑ The Times, Sep 06, 1984
- ↑ The Times, Feb 20, 1985
- ↑ The Times, Mar 05, 1985
- ↑ The Times, 20 June, 1985
- ↑ The Times, Nov 13, 1985
- ↑ The Times, February 24, 1986
- ↑ The Times, April 03, 1986
- ↑ The Times, May 13, 1986
- ↑ The Times, August 28, 1986
- ↑ The Times, November 26, 1986
- ↑ The Times, June 16, 1987
- ↑ The Times, December 08, 1987
- ↑ The Times June 16, 1988
- ↑ The Times July 18, 1988
- ↑ The Times August 09, 1988
- ↑ The Times, August 31, 1988
- ↑ The Times September 13, 1988
- ↑ The Times, December 02, 1988
- ↑ The Times, April 19, 1989
- ↑ The Times, May 03, 1990
- ↑ The Times March 05, 1991
- ↑ The Times, January 28, 1997
- ↑ The Times, May 09, 2000
- ↑ The Times, November 15, 2000