Loomis (company)
Parent Securitas AB (2001–2008) | | |
Website | www.loomis.com |
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Loomis AB (formerly Loomis, Fargo & Co.) is a Swedish cash handling company. The modern company was formed in 1997 by the consolidation of two armoured security concerns, Wells Fargo Armored Service and Loomis Armored Inc. Their international network covers over 200 operating locations in the US and eleven Western European countries.
In the US, Loomis operates an electronically linked service network of nearly 200 operating locations, employs over 8,000 people and utilizes a fleet of approximately 3,000
History
Wells Fargo Armored Service
When the
Jones redeveloped Wells Fargo as a concern for armored transportation and other specialized express movements. In 1947, for instance, he personally supervised the transfer of 13 tons of gold from Montreal to Mexico City by airplane. The company had a fleet of 50 armored cars in New York City, ten stores handling farm equipment, automobiles and trucks, and (together with American Express) the largest travel agency in Mexico. It also provided fast railroad freight service through a subsidiary, the Wells Fargo Carloading Corporation.[6]
Succeeding Jones as president of Wells Fargo was
As an operator of armored cars, the company did business as the Wells Fargo Armored Security Corporation as an affiliate of Baker Industries, and later, after its acquisition by Borg-Warner Security, as Wells Fargo Armored Service.
Loomis Armored Inc.
Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
On July 15, 1996, Borg-Warner Security agreed to consolidate its Wells Fargo Armored Service with Loomis Armored Inc. Employing 8,500 and providing armored transportation, cash services and automated teller machine maintenance, the new concern was named Loomis Fargo & Company.[11] The transaction was completed in 1997.
In May 2001, Swedish securities services group
On November 26, 2007, Loomis announced the sale of Loomis Cash Management Ltd, its cash handling operation in the United Kingdom, to Vaultex UK Ltd jointly owned by
In 2008, Loomis was distributed to the Securitas shareholders and
On April 4, 2014, Loomis acquired Zurich based VIA MAT Holding AG, one of the world’s leading companies in international valuables logistics with an enterprise value of approximately CHF 200 million, thus adding International Services to the existing Cash in Transit and Cash Management Services lines of businesses and becoming market leader in cash handling in Switzerland.[15]
Major robberies
During its first year of operation as the new Loomis Fargo & Company, the company was the target for two of the largest cash robberies ever committed on American soil.
In March 1997, employee
These two robberies, along with the unrelated $18.9 million Dunbar Armored robbery, which also occurred in 1997, were the first to surpass the previous holder of the title "largest cash robbery" in U.S. history, the $5 million cash portion (along with $0.9 million in the jewellery) of the Lufthansa heist of December 1978.
An additional robbery took place in March, 1999 while a Loomis semi truck was in transit from Sacramento, California, to San Francisco. During transit, one or more robbers boarded the truck, cut a hole in the roof, removed approximately $2.3 million, and exited the truck with the money, completely evading detection. The robbery was not discovered until after the truck arrived at its destination and no suspects were ever identified. The incident is now considered a cold case.[16]
The UK division of the company hit the headlines in February 2006 when armed robbers raided its cash center located in Tonbridge in Kent. The criminals made off with £53m in what is known as the Securitas depot robbery.[17]
The next month, a Securitas van in Warrington, Cheshire was also robbed by criminals who rammed it with a stolen tractor and subsequently made off with over half a million pounds.[18]
Again the same month, an armed gang robbed a Securitas van as it was unloading money at Gothenburg's Landvetter Airport in Sweden.[19]
On October 4, 2007, two
On November 30, 2016, a man stole a bucket containing gold flakes worth $1.6 million from the back of an open and unguarded Loomis truck on a busy street in Manhattan, New York.[22]
References
- ^ a b c "Annual Report 2009" (PDF). Loomis.com. Loomis Armored. April 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Annual Report 2001" (PDF). Securitas. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
- ^ a b "Annual Report 2008" (PDF). Securitas. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
- ^ Loomis, Noel M. (1968). Wells Fargo. New York: Clarkson N. Potter Inc. pp. 317–318.
- ^ Loomis, pp. 317–318.
- ^ Loomis, pp. 318–319.
- ^ Loomis, p. 318.
- ^ "Loomis Armored acquisition completed". UPI. Dallas, Texas. May 6, 1991. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ^ "Loomis Armored - Our History & Heritage". Loomis.us. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
- ^ Hobson, Rodeny (March 1, 2000). "Securicor Buys in Canada". CityWire.co.uk.
- ^ "Wells Fargo and Loomis forming armored car company". The New York Times. July 16, 1996.
- ^ "Sweden's Securitas buys Loomis Fargo & Co". Tulsa World. May 16, 2001. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- Securitas.com. November 16, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- ^ "Loomis sells Loomis Cash Management (LCM) operation in the UK". Cision. November 26, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- ^ "Loomis expands into International Services by acquiring VIA MAT Group". GlobeNewswire. April 4, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- ^ Goodyear, Charlie (July 15, 2001). "Driver comes forward to discuss security follies of 1999 Loomis heist / Robbers climbed cash truck, cut a hole in the roof and made off with $2.3 million". SFGate. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
- ^ "Jurors see CCTV of £53m robbery". BBC News. July 5, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- ^ "Gang attacks plane in Gothenburg". The Local. March 7, 2006. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
- ^ Dean, Mensah M. (February 18, 2010). "Jury decides slayings of armored-car guards are 1st-degree murder". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
- ^ "City man (36) confesses to ATM killings". Philadelphia Daily News. October 5, 2007. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008.
- ^ "Scappa con un secchio pieno d'oro: cercasi ladro a New York" [Runs away with a bucket full of gold: thief wanted in New York]. La Repubblica (in Italian). December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.