Wormald is an Australian fire protection brand founded in 1889. Founded as an importer and distributor of fire doors and fire sprinklers, it grew over the decades into a diversified manufacturer of steel and metal products as well as a leader in the fire protection industry in Australia and New Zealand. Valued at US$1 billion by 1990, it was acquired by American conglomerate Tyco International that year and became part of its fire protection business (today the world's largest).
In 2016 the Australian fire-protection business of Tyco International – including the Wormald brand – was bought out by a New York–based private-equity firm, Evergreen Capital L.P. (who already purchased Tyco's Fijian fire-protection business, as well as the rights to use the Wormald name there). It now operates under local management as Wormald International, LLC.[1]
Tyco International still operates in New Zealand under the Wormald brand with the strapline "A Tyco Business" under the logo in most marketing material, though its official corporate filing is "Tyco New Zealand Limited".
History
The founders of the company were brothers Joseph Dawson Wormald (born 1863) and Henry Percy Wormald (born 1874). Born in Edinburgh, Joseph arrived in Australia in 1889 when brother Sir John Wormald, of the Manchester-based engineering firm, Mather & Platt