BOC (company)
Parent Linde plc | | |
Website | boconline.co.uk |
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BOC Ltd is a British based multinational, industrial gas company, more commonly known as BOC, now a part of Linde plc. In September 2005, BOC had over 30,000 employees on six continents, with sales of over £10.6 billion.[1] BOC was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and the FT 30. On 5 September 2006 the BOC Group became part of the Linde Group of Germany.
History
Early years as Brin's Oxygen Company (1886–1905)
Brin's Oxygen Company, Ltd. was formed in 1886, by two French brothers, Arthur and Leon Brin. In the early years, the company manufactured oxygen using a high-temperature barium oxide process, known as the Brin process, developed from the work of French scientist Jean-Baptiste Boussingault. The main application for gaseous oxygen at that time was in connection with the generation of limelight, used in magic lanterns and theatre lighting.
A major new market emerged around 1903, with the development of the
As BOC and expansion (1906–1978)
In 1906, the Brin brothers renamed the company the British Oxygen Company, or BOC.
During the
BOC diversified into many industries in the 1960s and '70s. One was the refrigeration market and it set up a joint venture called BOC-Linde Refrigeration Ltd., with
With the plan of expanding into the Far East, it set up British Oxygen (Far East) Ltd, based in Tokyo. It established subsidiaries and joint ventures in Jamaica, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden and Spain for a number of products; which included transformers, magnetising equipment, frozen foods, stable isotopes, radioactively labelled compounds and cryogenic systems. In 1971, the company installed the largest mainframe computer in Britain, linking a network of computers throughout the country, and sold computer time to outside customers. As a result, BOC diversified into the computer business.
The 1973 oil crisis led to a rethinking of BOC's future strategy. It divested non-strategic assets; and concentrated on its primary business, especially the gases and health care markets, and the expansion of these businesses to Europe, the Americas and the Far East. In 1975, the company officially became 'BOC International Ltd', reflecting its success in developing business outside of Britain, and in products beyond oxygen.
BOC Group (1978–2006)
An important part of BOC's history was the acquisition of Airco Industrial Gases, an American competitor. After 11 years of litigation, in 1978 Airco became a wholly owned subsidiary of BOC. The enlarged company changed its name to the BOC Group.
In 1999, reports emerged that the U.S. industrial gases company
Following the collapse of the bid, BOC Group developed a new strategy to stimulate business growth in new products and markets and to reshape its existing portfolio of businesses to improve Group performance. In 2001, BOC Group announced it was cutting 1,500 jobs. In late 2002, the company merged its Japanese industrial and medical gas businesses with those of Air Liquide to form Japan Air Gases. BOC also acquired Praxair's operations in Poland.
In November 2003, BOC Group announced that it would complete the sale of Afrox Healthcare—a hospital and managed health care group operating in South Africa—to a consortium led by Black Economic Empowerment investors.[9]
Part of the Linde Group (2006–present)
The BOC Group's total revenues in 2005, including its share of joint ventures and associate companies, were £4.6 billion and was then the second largest industrial gas supplier in the world. Industrial gases business made up for more than 80% of sales. The group was getting nearly one-third of its revenues from
In January 2006, the Linde Group made a preliminary proposal to acquire BOC Group based on a £15 per share all-cash offer, which was rejected by the BOC board of directors. In March 2006, the second proposal based on a £16 per share all-cash offer, valuing the company at £8.2bn (US$14.4bn; €12bn), was accepted and takeover was completed on 5 September 2006.[10] After nearly a century of intermittent courtship, BOC became a part of Linde Group and the synergy overtook Air Liquide as the global market leader.[6]
On 6 September, BOC Group employees received a welcome pack including a letter from Linde
Operations
The BOC Group business activities included:
- The Process Gas Solutions (PGS) line of business, supplying large product volumes by cryogenictanker
- The Industrial and Special Products (ISP) line of business providing packaged gas, chemicals and related products and services. The gases involved are typically delivered in high pressure cylinders and range from technical grades to high-purity speciality gases.
- BOC Edwards supplying the semiconductor industry with vacuum, chemical delivery and abatement systems and related services. It also supplies vacuum equipment to many industrial and scientific sectors.
- Gist Limited provided logistics services, transport and warehousing to a number of sectors including food, beverage and fashion retail for large corporations including Marks & Spencer (M&S), Waitrose and Tesco. It was bought by M&S in Summer 2022 as part of a deal worth up to £255M.[11]
Headquarters
When BOC was a global company, the head office of BOC was in
See also
- BOC Covent Garden Festival
References
- ^ a b "BOC Report and accounts 2005" (PDF). BOC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2006.
- ^ "BOC Group history". fundinguniverse. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ "Praxair history". fundinguniverse. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ "Praxair mum on BOC merger speculation". 11 May 1999. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ BOC rejects takeover bid
- ^ a b c "BOC Group history". answers.com. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ Balloon goes up on BOC independence
- ^ BOC merger collapses
- ^ BOC sells South African Hospital stake
- ^ Statement on Linde homepage Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Saker-Clark, Henry (21 July 2022). "M&S buys logistics firm Gist as it seeks food supply chain control". The Independent. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Report - - BOC Windlesham (Kamkorp) - Chobham - August 2020 | Industrial Sites".
- ^ "GMA T.33 detailed tour by Gordon Murray - 615bhp V12 supercar launched 30 years after McLaren F1 - The Late Brake Show". YouTube.
External links
- Official website
- Frarell, Christopher (1977). "An industry out of a fog". New Scientist. 76 (1083): 762–763.
- Documents and clippings about BOC in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW