Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain.[1] Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices.
ICI was formed in 1926 as a result of the merger of four of Britain's leading chemical companies. From the onset, it was involved in the production of various chemicals, explosives, fertilisers, insecticides, dyestuffs, non-ferrous metals, and paints; the firm soon became involved in plastics and a variety of speciality products, including food ingredients, polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavourings. During the Second World War, ICI's subsidiary ICI Nobel produced munitions for Britain's war effort; the wider company was also involved with Britain's nuclear weapons programme codenamed Tube Alloys. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, ICI greatly expanded its activities in the pharmaceutic sector; cumulating in the formation of a dedicated subsidiary, ICI Pharmaceuticals, in 1957.
During 1960, ICI's first outsider to serve as chairman, Paul Chambers, was appointed. Chambers reorganised the company, but fell out of favour following an unsuccessful takeover bid of rival firm Courtaulds. Between 1968 and 1971, Peter Allen was chairman of ICI, during which time Viyella was purchased, the subsidiary Cleveland Potash Ltd was created, and profits dipped. Major moves in the 1970s included the acquisition of the American competitor Atlas Chemical Industries Inc. and the divestment of Imperial Metal Industries. By the late 1980s, ICI which had continued to acquire entities such as the Beatrice Chemical Division and Glidden Coatings & Resins, increasing competition and rising internal complexity were driving ICI towards major restructuring plans, including a demerger.
Considerable changes at ICI came about during the 1990s, particularly in the aftermath of an unsuccessful acquisition attempt in 1991 by Hanson of the firm in what would have been the biggest takeover in British history. That same year, ICI sold its agricultural and merchandising operations of BritAg and Scottish Agricultural Industries to Norsk Hydro; it sold its nylon business to DuPont one year later. In 1993, the firm also de-merged its pharmaceutical bio-science businesses as Zeneca. During 1997, ICI's Australian subsidiary, ICI Australia, was sold for £1 billion. During 2008, ICI was acquired by AkzoNobel for £8 billion;[2] shortly thereafter, portions of ICI were sold off to Henkel while its remaining operations were integrated within AkzoNobel's existing organisation.[3]
History
Development of the business (1926–1944)
The company was founded in December 1926 from the merger of four companies: Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives, the United Alkali Company, and British Dyestuffs Corporation.[4] ICI established its head office at Millbank in London in 1928.[4] Competing with DuPont and IG Farben, the new company produced chemicals, explosives, fertilisers, insecticides, dyestuffs, non-ferrous metals, and paints.[4] In its first year, turnover
Operations
ICI operated a number of chemical sites around the world. In the UK, the main plants were as follows:
- Billingham Manufacturing Plant (in Stockton-on-Tees) and Wilton (in present-day Redcar and Cleveland): ICI used the Billingham site to manufacture fertilisers in the 1920s and went on to produce plastics at Billingham in 1934. During World War II it manufactured Synthonia, a synthetic ammonia for explosives.[65] The Wilton R&D site was built to support the plastics division with R&D and chemical engineering facilities. The ICI Billingham Division was split into the ICI Heavy Organic Chemicals Division and ICI Agricultural Division in the 1960s. From 1971 to 1988 ICI Physics and Radioisotopes Section (later known as Tracerco) operated a small General Atomics TRIGA Mark I nuclear reactor at its Billingham factory for the production of radioisotopes used in the manufacture of flow and level instruments, among other products.[66] The Agricultural Division was noted for the development of the world's largest bioreactor at the time – the 1.5 million litre Pruteen Reactor, used for the cultivation of animal feed. Engineering models of components and the builder's model of the complete plant are now in the collection of the Science Museum London . Pruteen had limited economic success but was followed by the much more successful development of Quorn.
- Blackley (in Manchester) and Huddersfield: ICI used the sites to manufacture dyestuffs. The dye business, known as the ICI Dyestuffs Division in the 1960s, went through several reorganisations. Huddersfield was tied in with Wilton with the production of nitrobenzene and nitrotoluene. Huddersfield also produced insecticides. (Syngenta still manufacture insecticides at Huddersfield). Proxel
See also
- Imperial Chemical House
- IMI plc (formerly Imperial Metal Industries)
- Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom
Further reading
References
- David Smith, Dominic O'Connell, Iain Dey, James Ashton, Matthew Goodman, Teena Lyons, William Kay. Falling into the abyss The Times, 6 July 2008^
- Akzo Nobel ICI merger completed BBC News, 2 January 2008, retrieved 24 February 2011^
- Akzo Nobel to Focus on Fast and Effective Integration in 2008