 | |
| Industry | Conglomerate |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Fate | Demerged |
| Successor | Chubb Kidde |
| Headquarters | Derby, United Kingdom |
Key people | Sir Nigel Rudd (co founder and chairman) Roger Carr (CEO) Brian McGowan (co founder) |
Williams Holdings was a major British conglomerate. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The company was established by Nigel Rudd and Brian McGowan in Derby in 1982 to acquire under performing businesses.[1] Its first major acquisition was J & HB Jackson, a Coventry based metal business, in 1985.[1] The company went to acquire Crown Berger, a paints business, in 1987, Pilgrim House in the United States (owners of Kidde) for £331m in 1988 and Yale & Valor, a locks and gas fires business, in 1991.[1]
In 1988, Williams Holdings acquired Berger, Jenson and Nicholson Ltd from Hoechst AG.[2]
It started to focus on security in the 1990s, selling its paints business to Akzo Nobel in 1990.[3] In February 1997, it bought Chubb Security for $US2.1 billion.[4] It changed its name to Williams plc in 1998 and sold Yale Lock Company to Assa Abloy in March 2000.[5]