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Engineering 1996
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Morgan Crucible, the speciality materials and engineering company, is planning to announce a joint venture in Japan and two in China, as it believes that sales in Asia and the Pacific Rim could exceed sales in continental Europe. 31-Dec-1996 Wellington Holdings is acquiring Dynamic Seals, the US maker of fluid power system components, for £5m. 28-Dec-1996 Eurotherm, the industrial controls maker, is looking for acquisitions in the £50m-£100m range, and has already identified a number of possible targets in various countries. 18-Dec-1996 Fairey Group has launched a £51m bid for Burnfield, the measuring instruments maker, but the bid is conditional on Burnfield abandoning its acquisition of LDS. 18-Dec-1996 FKI has launched a £197m hostile takeover bid for Newman Tonks, the architectural hardware group. 18-Dec-1996 David Brown Group is in discussions with a number of US gear companies about a possible acquisition, worth up to £100m, in order to expand in North America. 16-Dec-1996 FKI is in discussions to acquire Newman Tonks, the architectural hardware group thought to be worth about £131m. 16-Dec-1996 BICC is planning a £25m expansion at its high voltage cable plant in Erith, Kent, in order to make undersea power cables, creating up to 60 jobs. 16-Dec-1996 Suppliers of petrol pump equipment are blaming a 49% reduction in orders this year on the petrol price war, which has caused petrol retailers to cut back on capital investment. 12-Dec-1996 General Electric Company is being reorganised into five divisions - power engineering, defence, telecoms, US operations and general industrial - and is planning a major sell-off of non-core operations. 07-Dec-1996 LucasVarity, the recently-merged Anglo-US engineering concern, is planning a £250m restructuring programme, which will include the disposal of 13 non-core businesses and the cutting of about 3,000 jobs. 04-Dec-1996 Siebe, the industrial controls company, is to introduce the Six Sigma quality control programme in all its 150 factories in order to save £50m a year. 04-Dec-1996 Ascot Holdings is to focus on specialist engineering, and will therefore start disposing other businesses such as pubs and properties. 03-Dec-1996 Rotork has acquired Rotork Controls (Proprietary) of Johannesburg for £1.2m. 03-Dec-1996 Fenner is to sell its Hull-based gear making facility to Sumitomo Heavy Industries of Japan for £5m. 03-Dec-1996 Powell Duffryn is to focus on engineering and ports by selling off its US storage terminals and UK fuel distribution business. 22-Nov-1996 Morgan Crucible is to float eight engineering businesses, which it has combined into a new company called Emblem Technology, in order to reduce gearing. 22-Nov-1996 Siebe is setting up Siebe India in order to build engineering centres in India for industrial process control equipment. 20-Nov-1996 Triplex Lloyd has launched a £58m hostile takeover bid for William Cook, the castings producer. 16-Nov-1996 British Steel has warned that it will have to cut more UK jobs and speed-up its cost-cutting programme in response to foreign competition and the strengthening of the pound. 12-Nov-1996 Wordsworth, the construction equipment maker, is linking up with Claas of Germany in order to boost production of teleporters at Grantham, creating up to 50 jobs. 09-Nov-1996 Senior Engineering has delayed the previously announced £28m sale of its thermal engineering division due to trading problems in some operations. 09-Nov-1996 Halma has acquired Research Engineers, the maker of gas detection instruments, for £1.6m. 05-Nov-1996 Toyo Seal Industries of Japan is to set up a £2.4m factory to make rubber seals for automotive bearings in Wrexham, creating about 40 jobs. 01-Nov-1996 Black & Decker's chain of 41 power tool service centres has been acquired in a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 31-Oct-1996 Scruttons has sold its mechanical handling operations to a management buy-out for £1.5m. 22-Oct-1996 Exports of machine tools increased 8.5% in the three months to August compared to the previous three months, with total turnover up 2.7%, according to the Office for National Statistics. 18-Oct-1996 Laird is planning to outsource the manufacture of its vehicle sealing systems in Germany, a move which could cut its German workforce by up to 40%. 18-Oct-1996 Smiths Industries is looking into the possibility of setting up an international alliance in order to benefit from rising world demand for aerospace components. 17-Oct-1996 Rolls-Royce has announced a deal in which Marubeni of Japan will become a risk sharing partner in its Trent aero-engine programme, in return for assistance in helping Rolls-Royce expand in Asia Pacific. 16-Oct-1996 Fiamm of Italy is to build a £10.5m battery factory near Newport in south Wales, creating over 200 jobs. 14-Oct-1996 Mannesmann of Germany has sold its 8.9% stake in TI Group, the UK engineer, for £230m in order to increase investment in its telecoms business. 11-Oct-1996 Rolls-Royce is planning to sell Bristol Aerospace, its Canadian subsidiary involved in various overhaul and manufacturing activities. 08-Oct-1996 The 600 Group has said it may be interested in acquiring Traub, the German machine tool supplier that is up for sale. 07-Oct-1996 Simon Engineering may have to close its Gloucester fire fighting platforms factory, which employs 270 people, unless it can find a buyer. 01-Oct-1996 Brooke Tool Engineering, the cutting tool and coil spring maker, is acquiring APW Engineering for £1.8m. 28-Sep-1996 Alcan of Canada is to upgrade its Lynemouth aluminium smelter in Northumberland at a cost of £50m, with the creation of about 150 jobs. 27-Sep-1996 Siebe is to acquire the compressed air division of Mannesmann Demag of Germany for £20m. 25-Sep-1996 TransTec, the engineering concern, is looking to make an acquisition of up to £100m in order to reduce its reliance on the automotive sector. 24-Sep-1996 BICC, the cables and construction concern, is launching a £170m rights issue, with some of the proceeds being used to fund the expansion of its manufacturing of optical and data-communications cables, as well as a further move into Asia. 20-Sep-1996 TI Group has sold two engineering businesses for £5m - TI Apollo was bought by Coyote Sports and Accles & Pollock by Hay Hall Group. 20-Sep-1996 BTR is planning a global restructuring and aims to sell off 37 businesses in order to focus on the expansion of its core engineering and manufacturing businesses. 13-Sep-1996 Cummins Engine of the US is planning a £45m expansion at its Daventry plant, which makes large engines for power generation, so that it can double output by the year 2000. 12-Sep-1996 British Airways may sell a minority stake in its engineering and maintenance business to investors, in order to help with its plans to cut £1bn of costs over the next three years. 10-Sep-1996 ASW Holdings, the steelmaker, is planning to close its Cardiff headquarters, cut back its staff and sell its specialist wire and steel ties business. 10-Sep-1996 Simon Engineering is looking to sell its Access division, which makes firefighting vehicles and cranes, as the engineering group aims to reduce its £83m debt. 06-Sep-1996 BTR has sold Rochester Corp, the US maker of wire rope and cables, for $32m. 06-Sep-1996 JCB is to build a new factory to make transmissions at its Wrexham site, with the creation of 300 jobs. 05-Sep-1996 IMI is looking for acquisitions in fluid power and valves in North America and Europe. 04-Sep-1996 Sheffield Forgemasters, the engineering and steel forgings concern, is seeking advice about a possible £80m flotation this autumn. 02-Sep-1996 British Steel is looking to sell its Bromsgrove-based forgings division, for a price thought to be around £50m. 31-Aug-1996 T&N is to consider consolidating with another motor components company, either in an international alliance or in a merger, as it aims to become one of the world's leading suppliers. 30-Aug-1996 FKI is acquiring Nuoya Marelli Motori, the Italian maker of motors and alternators, for £52m. 29-Aug-1996 Webster & Bennett is linking up with Simmons Machine Tool of the US to jointly develop the Millennium machine tool for the aerospace and railway sectors, with Simmons manufacturing and selling the tool in the Americas and Webster & Bennett receiving royalties. 26-Aug-1996 Cornhill Insurance is acquiring Ajax, the engineering inspection and insurance company, from Norwich Union for undisclosed terms. 21-Aug-1996 Glynwed International, the engineering concern, is to sell off 22 non-core businesses later this year, mainly in construction products. 15-Aug-1996 Mackie International is planning a £13.6m foundry in west Belfast. 09-Aug-1996 GKN is said to be considering acquisitions in the defence sector in order to expand its helicopter and armoured vehicle business. 08-Aug-1996 Siebe is linking with GE Fanuc to set up a new company in Germany called GE Fanuc Eberle Automation, which will develop programmable logic controllers. 08-Aug-1996 Widney has bought Deedek, the holding company for Palcon Systems, the maker of heating and ventilation control panels, for about £1.7m. 25-Jul-1996 Diploma has bought a 93% stake in Hercules Hydraulics, the US distributor of hydraulic seals, for up to £9.5m. 23-Jul-1996 Rolls-Royce is looking for a buyer for its steam turbine power generation business, a move which could threaten 2,500 jobs at the Parsons turbine plant in Newcastle upon Tyne and the International Combustion boiler factory in Derby. 20-Jul-1996 Sapa Holdings has acquired Bredon Group, the aluminium extrusion concern. 12-Jul-1996 Littelfuse, the US-owned maker of circuit protection devices, is to move to a new factory in Washington, Tyne & Wear, creating 110 new jobs. 28-Jun-1996 Tomkins has won approval to buy The Gates Corporation, the US maker of power transmission belts, for $1.37bn. 27-Jun-1996 Charter, the engineering group, says it will look for an acquisition of up to £500m when it sells its 65% stake in Cape, the fire preventive materials company. 20-Jun-1996 FKI, the engineering group, is planning to make £300m worth of acquisitions over the coming months, with one acquisition costing up to £200m. 14-Jun-1996 FG Wilson is setting up a joint venture with Caterpillar of the US to make diesel generating sets at its Larne, Northern Ireland, plant creating 1,500 jobs. 13-Jun-1996 Matsuura of Japan is to spend £10.7m on its planned machine tool factory in Coalville near Leicester, creating 125 jobs. 12-Jun-1996 Sandvik of Sweden is to invest £38m on plant and machinery at its eight UK engineering plants. 10-Jun-1996 Powell Duffryn is planning to sell off its non-core operations, which could include some engineering businesses and its fuel distribution division. 07-Jun-1996 Copeland of the US is to build a £33m plant in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, to make compressors, creating 300 jobs. 04-Jun-1996 Rolls-Royce is said to be discussing a power engineering alliance with Westinghouse of the US, which could also include Mitsubishi and Fiat. 03-Jun-1996 Lucas Industries has agreed a £3.2bn merger with Varity Corp of the US, thus creating one of the world's top 10 automotive suppliers. 01-Jun-1996 City Technology, the gas sensors company, is planning a share placing with institutional investors with about £18m of the proceeds being used to pay off debts. 30-May-1996 Coats Viyella's Dynacast subsidiary is to build a £5m plastics moulding plant in Cwm Cynon, South Wales, creating 130 jobs. 28-May-1996 Rolls-Royce is planning a £23m investment to make compressor blades and seals at its Hillington plant near Glasgow. 23-May-1996 Sanderson Kayser, the Sheffield-based steelmaker, is facing cutbacks following heavy losses, and may even be sold by its owner, GEI International. 10-May-1996 British Aerospace and GEC have linked up with a number of European companies - Saab, Daimler-Benz, Matra and Alenia, to form a consortium to bid for the £850m UK contract to supply the main missile system for the Eurofighter combat aircraft. 07-May-1996 Kitigawa of Japan is investing £4.5m to increase production of handling systems for machine tools at its factory in Salisbury. 06-May-1996 Amada of Japan is looking into the possibility of building a machine tool factory in the UK to expand its European manufacturing which is currently based in France. 02-May-1996 Fiat and Cummins are to set up a $100m centre near London to develop fuel-efficient engines for tractors, trucks and buses, employing about 60 engineers. 02-May-1996 Aromascan and Mitsubishi Electric are to jointly develop and market an automated quality control system using the odour detection technology devised by Aromascan. 01-May-1996 General Electric of the US is planning a £27m investment in testing facilities at its aircraft engine operation near Cardiff. 30-Apr-1996 Heller of Germany is planning a £15m investment at its Redditch machine tool factory, creating 300 new jobs over the next five years. 30-Apr-1996 City Technology, the industrial gas sensors concern, plans to raise £20m in a flotation in June in order to pay off loans and help with expansion into south east Asia and other regions. 30-Apr-1996 David Brown, the engineering group, is to open a joint venture plant in Indonesia to make a range of gear products. 26-Apr-1996 Six South Korean companies are investing over £15m in setting up UK plants to supply parts to Samsung's electronics plant in the north east, with locations including Cleveland, Durham, Hartlepool and South Yorkshire. 24-Apr-1996 Giddings & Lewis of the US has selected its Knowsley plant on Merseyside as the European base for manufacturing a new range of tool, called the Ram machining centre, which will create 50 new jobs. 23-Apr-1996 Timken of the US is to choose between Northampton and France as the site to invest $10m to make a new kind of bearing for trucks. 17-Apr-1996 Exports of machine tools rose 22% last year to £441m, but imports grew even faster, by 59% to £563m, according to the Machine Tool Technologies Association. 17-Apr-1996 Cobham, the aerospace engineering concern, is looking for further acquisitions in the US and other countries. 17-Apr-1996 Coats Viyella, the engineering and textiles concern, is preparing a £50m restructuring programme which will involve 2,700 job losses in the UK and India. 15-Apr-1996 T&N is forming joint ventures in China, including a deal with Teikoku of Japan and Anqing Piston Ring Company of China, to build a £20m plant to make piston rings. 11-Apr-1996 British Aerospace is cutting 250 jobs at its Prestwick factory due to problems in the turboprop aircraft market. 02-Apr-1996 Senior Engineering is planning a rationalisation of its thermal engineering and engineered products operations, likely to include job cuts in the UK and North America. 29-Mar-1996 Brammer is upping its stake in Rodamientos USA, the Spanish engineering distributor, as part of a plan to expand its European network. 29-Mar-1996 TransTec, the engineering concern, is looking for acquisitions following a return to profit due to an improvement in its controls division. 28-Mar-1996 Charter, the engineering concern, is contemplating a major acquisition but is not planning any more disposals. 27-Mar-1996 YG-1 of South Korea is planning an end-mill cutting equipment plant in Belfast, creating 230 jobs. 26-Mar-1996 Morgan Crucible, the speciality materials and engineering concern, plans to dispose of non-core operations and make further acquisitions in eastern Europe and south east Asia. 26-Mar-1996 Cable & Wireless is joining the Indonesian PT Daya Mitra Malindon telecoms consortium to lay 237,000 new phone lines in Kalimantan and run the system for 15 years. 25-Mar-1996 ASW Holdings, the steelmaker, has put three businesses up for sale to reduce debts - McCalls Special Products, Cardiff Wire, and Arteon. 22-Mar-1996 ABB Daimler Benz is to cut 163 jobs at its repair and maintenance depot in Doncaster as part of a move to consolidate activities at its various depots. 21-Mar-1996 Weir Group is looking for an acquisition in pumps or valves, preferably in the UK or the US. 21-Mar-1996 Keller Group, the engineering concern, is looking for an acquisition in continental Europe. 21-Mar-1996 Adwest, the specialist engineer, is to sell its power systems and investment property operations as part of a major restructuring programme. 20-Mar-1996 Marshalls is discussing the sale of most of its engineering activities, including Halco Drilling, Halifax Tool Company, Marshalls Drilling and Marshalls Hard Metals. 19-Mar-1996 TT Group may spend up to £140m on acquisitions this year, probably in specialist electronic components for the motor sector. 19-Mar-1996 Sulzer of Switzerland is to transfer pump manufacturing capacity from Switzerland and Germany to its Leeds site, where costs per employee are lower. 18-Mar-1996 Siebe has bought a 25% stake in Unitech and hopes to agree a £450m takeover. 16-Mar-1996 Charles Baynes, the industrial, packaging and valves group, is to open national distribution centres for packaging and industrial tools, and is also on the look out for a major acquisition in either industrial distribution or manufacturing. 14-Mar-1996 TI Group says it may spend up to £300m on acquisitions having identified five targets, mainly in polymers and mechanical seals. 13-Mar-1996 Delta is to concentrate on high technology cables and specialist engineering, and withdraw from poor performing operations such as those that rely on the construction industry. 13-Mar-1996 Spirax-Sarco Engineering, the steam equipment concern, is setting up a Chinese subsidiary. 12-Mar-1996 Yamasaki Mazak of Japan is planning a 20% capacity increase at its Worcester machine tools plant, creating 50 extra jobs. 11-Mar-1996 IMI expects to make further acquisitions this year, and may make disposals in its specialist engineering business. 08-Mar-1996 Cortworth, the specialist engineering concern, is looking for acquisitions in the £10m price bracket. 08-Mar-1996 Lotus, the engineering and sports car concern, is in discussions with potential buyers, one of which is said to be Daewoo. 06-Mar-1996 BBA Group is looking for acquisitions in engineering and manufacturing, particularly in Latin America, as well as joint ventures in the Far East. 05-Mar-1996 Cummins is to give a partial reprieve to its diesel engine plant in Shotts, Lanarkshire, preserving 180 jobs at first, and it will also consider forming a machine shop business at the plant with 80 jobs. 01-Mar-1996 Blue Circle is restructuring its European heating operation with the loss of 1,300 jobs, including the transfer of its boiler making from Warwick to Lancashire. 27-Feb-1996 Cummins Engine is to close its diesel engine plant near Glasgow with 700 job losses, as part of its worldwide rationalisation programme. 22-Feb-1996 BICC is to close a cable making plant at Brockville, Ontario, as well as a nearby warehouse, with the loss of 450 jobs. 21-Feb-1996 Rubicon is buying Higgins Group, the Irish engineering equipment concern, for £26m, which will enable Rubicon to increase sales of its metals fabrication division to the telcommunications and data storage markets. 21-Feb-1996 Babcock International's process engineering division has won a number of new orders which will create up to 350 jobs at plants in Teesside and Crawley. 16-Feb-1996 Weir Group has bought Southern Heat Treatments of Gosport. 09-Feb-1996 Middlesex Holdings has formed Middlesex Balli, an operation which will export $300m of steel products a year from Oskal Electrometallurgical Kombinat of Russia. 07-Feb-1996 Halla of South Korea is to build a £17m lift truck and earth moving machinery factory at Merthyr Tydfil, creating over 300 jobs. 06-Feb-1996 Suter is to close Clearplas UK, which makes plastic injection moulding components for the motor industry. 06-Feb-1996 Elektrowatt of Switzerland plans to sell its 42% stake in Eurodis Electron, leaving the UK electronic components company open to a takeover bid. 01-Feb-1996 Siebe, the Berkshire engineering concern, has won £50m of control systems orders, and will be taking on 350 graduate systems and applications engineers around the world. 26-Jan-1996 Prospect Industries, the engineering services concern, is planning a new share structure following large losses. 25-Jan-1996 Ever Ready Battery Company is cutting 350 jobs at its Durham plant in order to focus carbon zinc battery production on South America. 18-Jan-1996 British Steel is to spend £70m upgrading its Scunthorpe and Teesside works to use the continuous casting method. 16-Jan-1996 US engineering companies are said to be two-thirds more productive than UK companies, mainly due to economies of scale, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. 15-Jan-1996 Boss Group is to build lift trucks for Jungheinrich, its German owner. 12-Jan-1996 BICC is to restructure its US operations by merging its utility cable and industrial cable activities into one business. 08-Jan-1996 Severfield-Reeve is moving into the manufacture of hygiene equipment for the food industry by setting up a 75%-owned venture called Manabo UK. 08-Jan-1996 Shimizu Industry is planning a £5m factory in Newtown, Powys, to make plastic products for the motor industry, creating 45 jobs. 05-Jan-1996 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. Click here for further details Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2007