BTR plc

BTR plc was a British multinational industrial conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1924, grew strongly by acquisition under Sir Owen Green's leadership, and merged with Siebe plc in 1999 to form BTR Siebe plc, later renamed Invensys. BTR was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Invensys was bought by and absorbed into Schneider Electric in 2014.

BTR plc
TypePublic limited company
IndustryConglomerate
FateMerged with Siebe
SuccessorInvensys
Founded1924
Defunct1999
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Sir Owen Green, (chairman)

History

Early years

BTR started in 1924, when the B.F.Goodrich Company of the USA formed a UK subsidiary British Goodrich Rubber Co. Ltd. In 1934 Goodrich sold most of its shares in the company, which changed its name to the British Tyre & Rubber Co. Ltd.[1]

In 1956 the company changed its name to BTR Limited, when it ceased production of tyres.[2]

Owen Green and subsequent years; acquisitive industrial group

The Company was dominated by Sir Owen Green from 1967 to 1993 first as managing director (until 1986) and then as chairman.[3] His focus was on operating margins and cash flow, arguably at the cost of long-term investment.

By 1982 BTR had acquired a large number of companies in the United Kingdom, the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Germany.[2] BTR acquired the Thomas Tilling group in 1983, and Dunlop Holdings plc in 1985.[4] The Dunlop road tyre business was immediately sold to Sumitomo Rubber Industries.[5] In late 1985, BTR launched a hostile take-over bid for Pilkington, a leading manufacturer of high quality glass, with operations worldwide. After a successful defensive campaign by Pilkington, BTR was forced to withdraw its offer in early 1986.[6]

BTR purchased Schlegel Corporation in late 1988 through a subsidiary. Schlegel had manufacturing facilities for door and window seals and related products in twelve countries.[7] Schlegel made automobile and building products in Europe through its subsidiaries Schlegel UK and Schlegel GmbH.[8] After the purchase BTR decided to transfer the Schlegel UK and Schlegel GmbH subsidiaries from Schlegel Corporation to itself.[7] There was a dispute over how the transfer should be valued for tax purposes, with BTR valuing the Schlegel UK and Schlegel GmbH subsidiaries at $21,846,000 and $9,400,000, while the Internal Revenue Service valued them at $49,069,000 and $13,246,000.[8]

In 1992, Hawker Siddeley Group plc was acquired by BTR plc for £1.5bn.[9]

BTR also had an industrial products operation in Australia known as Nylex which it secured complete control of in 1995.[10]

Later years

Between 1996 and 1998, BTR sold the remaining Dunlop companies.[11] In November 1997 UniPoly S.A, bought 32 companies from BTR, including the Schlegel Sealing and Shielding Group. The acquisition cost about $867 million.[12] The deal was a management buy-out in which UniPoly Group was formed to take over most of the rubber products business of BTR plc.[13] In these years BTR was organised in the following businesses areas: Engineering, Packaging, Materials, Building products, Polymers.[14]

In 1999 BTR merged with Siebe to form BTR Siebe plc, which was renamed Invensys plc.[15][16]

See also

References
  1. Competition Commission Report c. 1955 para 68
  2. Competition Commission report 1982
  3. Corporate Governance and Control by Saleem Sheikh Page xiv
  4. Dunlop and BTR reach an accord
  5. Dunlop stake for Sumitomo
  6. BTR withdraws offer for Pilkington
  7. Pratt, Shannon P.; Grabowski, Roger J. (26 October 2010). Cost of Capital in Litigation: Applications and Examples. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-470-94491-2. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  8. Fishman, Jay E. (28 March 2013). Standards of Value: Theory and Applications. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 49–50. ISBN 978-1-118-22540-0. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  9. Brush Traction: History Archived 10 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  10. BTR to buy out unit for $3.2bn
  11. BTR sells South African tyre subsidiary
  12. "Unipoly S.A. Acquires Four BTR Product Divisions in 515 Million British Pound Management Buyout". 10 November 1997. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  13. "UniPoly executives leave company". Rubber News. 22 June 2001. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  14. BTR to sell several divisions
  15. Investors back BTR Siebe merger
  16. Siebe, BTR Agree to Merge In Deal Worth $5.67 Billion
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