History
Walton was founded by S.M Nazrul Islam. Nazrul started his career as a small businessman. After the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, he started a separate business. In 1977, he founded a new company named after his eldest son S.M Nurul Alam Rezvi called Rezvi & Brothers, abbreviated as R.B. Group.[10] At that time, they used to import televisions. The company made its debut in 2008 as the Walton Group by starting refrigerator manufacture. When S.M Nazrul Islam died in 2017, his eldest son S.M Nurul Alam Rezvi took over as the chairman of the company.[11]
In April 2017, Walton established the country's first compressor manufacturing factory.[12]
In January 2018, Walton opened a computer assembly plant. At the same time it began exporting laptops to Nigeria.[13]
The company expanded into TV export market to around 14 countries in Europe, including Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy and Romania.[14]
In February 2020, Walton started exporting handsets to the United States as a Bangladeshi original equipment manufacturer company to an American brand, otherwise known as "contract manufacturing".[15]
In April 2022, Walton acquired 3 European brands to make 4.8 million compressors a year. Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC announced the purchase of two more brands – Zanussi Elettromeccanica (ZEM) and Verdichter (VOE) – from Italia Wanbao-ACC. It acquired the rights of three European electronics brands and its production plant, a trademark, patent, design and software.[16]
In June 2022, Walton announced the establishment of a Research and Innovation Centre in South Korea.[17]
