Imperial Chemical Industries ( ICI ) is a British chemical company and, for the most part, its history, the largest producer in the UK. It was formed by the incorporation of a leading British chemical company in 1926. Its headquarters are at Millbank in London, and it is a constituency of the FT 30 and then the FTSE 100 index.
ICI makes paints and specialty products, including foodstuffs, specialty polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavorings. It was acquired by AkzoNobel in 2008, which immediately sold the ICI section to Henkel, and integrates ICI's remaining operations within the existing organization.
Video Imperial Chemical Industries
History
Business development (1926-44)
The company was founded in December 1926 from the merger of four companies: Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives, United Alkali Company, and British Dyestuffs Corporation. It established its headquarters at Millbank in London in 1928. Competing with DuPont and IG Farben, the new company produced chemicals, explosives, fertilizers, insecticides, dyestuffs, non-ferrous metals, and paints. In the first year turnover is Ã, Â £ 27 million.
In the 1920s and 30s, the company played a key role in the development of new chemical products, including dyestuff phthalocyanine (1929), acpilik plastic Perspex (1932), Dulux paint (1932, jointly developed with DuPont), polyethylene (1937), and fiber polyethylene terephthalate known as Terylene (1941). In 1940, ICI started the British Nylon Spinners as a joint venture with Courtaulds.
ICI also owns the Sunbeam motorcycle business, which comes with Nobel Industries, and continues to build motorcycles until 1937.
During World War II, ICI was involved with the British nuclear weapons program under the name Tube Alloys.
Postwar_innovation_.281945.E2.80.9390.29 "> Postwar innovation (1945-90)
In the 1940s and 50s, the company established the pharmaceutical business and developed a number of key products, including Paludrine (1940s, anti-malarial drugs), halotan (1951, anesthesia agent), Inderal (1965, beta-blocker), tamoxifen (1978, a drug often used for breast cancer), and PEEK (1979, high performance thermoplastics). ICI established ICI Pharmaceuticals in 1957.
ICI developed a fabric in 1950 known as Crimplene, a thick polyester yarn used to make fabrics of the same name. The resulting fabric is thick and wrinkle-resistant, and retains its shape well. California-based fashion designer Edith Flagg was the first to import this cloth from England to the United States. For the first two years, ICI gave Flagg a huge advertising budget to popularize fabrics across America.
In 1960, Paul Chambers became the first chairman to be appointed from outside the company. Chambers hired a McKinsey consulting firm to help reorganize the company. His eight-year holdings resulted in doubling export sales, but his reputation was severely damaged by failing to take over the offer for Courtaulds in 1961-1962. In 1962, ICI developed a controversial herbicide, paraquat.
ICI was confronted with the nationalization of its operations in Burma on 1 August 1962 as a consequence of a military coup.
In 1964, ICI acquired the British Nylon Spinners (BNS), a jointly founded company in 1940 with Courtaulds. ICI awarded its 37.5 per cent stake in Courtaulds and paid Courtaulds Ã, £ 2 million per year for five years, "to account for development expenditures of Courtaulds in the field of nylon in the future." In return, Courtaulds transferred to ICI a 50 percent stake in BNS. BNS is absorbed into existing ICI polyester operations, ICI Fibers. This acquisition includes the BNS production plant at Pontypool, Gloucester and Doncaster, along with research and development at Pontypool. Early pesticide development included Gramoxone (1962, herbicide), pirimiphos-methyl insecticide in 1967 and pirimicarb in 1970, brodifacoum (a rodenticide) developed in 1974; in the late 1970s, ICI was involved in the early development of synthetic pyrethroid insecticides such as lambda-cyhalothrin.
Peter Allen was appointed chairman between 1968 and 1971. He led the purchase of Viyella. Profits are shrinking under his tenure.
Jack Callard was appointed chairman from 1971 to 1975. He almost doubled the company's profits between 1972 and 1974, and made Britain's largest ICI exporter. In 1971, the company acquired Atlas Chemical Industries Inc., a major American competitor.
In 1977, Imperial Metal Industries was divested as an independent company. From 1982 to 1987, the company was led by charismatic John Harvey-Jones. Under his leadership, the company acquired Beatrice Chemical Division in 1985 and Glidden Coatings & amp; Resin, the leading paint business, in 1986.
Business reorganization (1991-2007)
In 1991, ICI sold agricultural and merchandising operations from BritAg and the Scottish Agricultural Industry to Norsk Hydro, and fought off a hostile takeover bid from Hanson, which had acquired 2.8 percent of the company. He also released his soda ash product to Brunner Mond, ending an association with existing trading since the beginning of the company, which has been inherited from Brunner, Mond & amp; Co., Ltd.
In 1992, the company sold its nylon business to DuPont. In 1993, the company incorporated the pharmaceutical bio-science business: pharmaceutical, agrochemicals, specialty, grains and biological products all transferred to a new and independent company named Zeneca. Zeneca then merged with Astra AB to form AstraZeneca.
Charles Miller Smith was appointed CEO in 1994, one of the few times someone outside ICI was appointed to lead the company, Smith who had previously been a director at Unilever. Shortly thereafter, the company acquired a number of previous Unilever businesses in an effort to move away from its historical dependence on commodity chemicals. In 1997, ICI acquired National Starch & amp; Chemical, Quest International, Unichema, and Crosfield, Unilever's specialty chemicals business worth $ 8 billion. This step is part of a strategy to shift from cyclical bulk chemicals and to increase the value chain into higher growth, higher margin business. Later that year he went to buy Rutz & amp; Huber, the Swiss paint business.
After taking some  £ 4 billion in debt to finance this acquisition, the company must sell its commodity chemicals business:
- The disposal of the bulk chemicals business at that time included the sale of its Australian subsidiary, ICI Australia, for Ã, Â £ 1 billion in 1997, and its polyester chemicals business to DuPont for $ 3 billion also in 1997.
- In 1998, he sold Crosfield to WR Grace and bought Acheson, an electronics chemicals business.
- In 2000, ICI sold diisocyanates, advanced materials, and specialty chemicals business in Teesside and around the world (including plants in Rozenburg in the Netherlands, and South Africa, Malaysia and Taiwan), and Tioxide, a subsidiary of titanium dioxide, to the Huntsman Corporation for £ 1.7 billion. It also sold the last of the industrial chemicals business to Ineos for £ 300 million.
- In 2006, the Company sold Quest International, its flavor and fragrance business, to Givaudan, for £ 1.2 billion and Uniqema, the oleochemical business, to Croda International, for £ 410 million.
After selling many historically lucrative commodity businesses, and many new specialty businesses failed to integrate, the company consisted mainly of Dulux paint business, which quickly found itself as a takeover subject by AkzoNobel.
Acquisitions by AkzoNobel
Dutch company AkzoNobel (owner of Crown Berger paint) bid Ã, Â £ 7.2 billion (EUR10.66 billion or $ 14.5 billion) for ICI in June 2007. A worrying area about potential transactions is British pensions from ICI, which has a future obligation. more than Ã, Â £ 9 billion at the time. Regulatory issues in the UK and other markets where the Dulux and Crown Paints brands each have a significant market share are also of concern to ICI and AkzoNobel councils. In the UK, any joint operation without divestiture will see Akzo Nobel having a 54 percent market share in the paint market. Initial bid was rejected by ICI board and majority shareholder. However, the next bid for Ã, Â £ 8 billion (EUR11.82 billion) was received by ICI in August 2007, pending approval from regulators.
At 8 Ã, a.m. on January 2, 2008, the completion of the takeover of ICI plc by AkzoNobel was announced. Shareholders ICI receives cash of £ 6.70 or AkzoNobel loan notes with a value of Ã, £ 6.70 per share of par value of ICI. ICI's adhesive business was transferred to Henkel as a result of the deal, while AkzoNobel agreed to sell its Crown Paints subsidiary to meet European Commissioners' concerns for the Competition. Areas of concern regarding ICI UK pension schemes are handled by ICI and AkzoNobel.
Maps Imperial Chemical Industries
Operation
A subsidiary of ICI, called Duperial from 1928 to 1995, when its name was changed to ICI. Founded in the city of San Lorenzo, Santa Fe. Operate an integrated production site with a commercial office in Buenos Aires. Since 2009, it is called AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals S.A., and makes sulfuric acid with ISO certification.
Australia
A subsidiary of ICI Australia Ltd established Dry Creek Saltfields in Dry Creek north of Adelaide, South Australia, in 1940, with an ash soda factory near Osborne. In 1989, this operation was sold to Penrice Soda Products. The ICI plant was built in Botany Bay in New South Wales in the 1940s and was sold to Orica in 1997. The factory once produced paints, plastics and industrial chemicals such as solvents. It was responsible for the contamination of Botany Bay Groundwater Plume from a local aquifer.
See also
- IMI plc (formerly Imperial Metal Industries )
- Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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