| Williams Holdings | |
| Fate: | Demerged |
| Successor: | Chubb Kidde |
| Foundation: | 1982 |
| Defunct: | 2000 |
| Location: | Derby, United Kingdom |
| Industry: | Conglomerate |
| Key People: | Sir Nigel Rudd (co founder and chairman) Roger Carr (CEO) Brian McGowan (co founder) |
Williams Holdings was a major British conglomerate. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The company was established by Nigel Rudd and Brian McGowan in Derby in 1982 to acquire under performing businesses.[1] Its first major acquisition was J & HB Jackson, a Coventry based metal business, in 1985.[1]
The company went to acquire Walpamur, a paints business, from Reed International in 1987,[2] and Berger, Jenson and Nicholson, another paints business, from Hoechst AG in 1988. The two businesses were combined to create Crown Berger.[3]
The vehicle division, which operated nineteen car dealerships, was demerged as Pendragon PLC in November 1989.[4]
Williams Holdings bought Pilgrim House in the United States (owners of Kidde) for £331m in 1988 and Yale & Valor, a locks and gas fires business, in 1991.[1]
It started to focus on security in the 1990s, selling its paints business to Akzo Nobel in 1990.[5] In February 1997, it bought Chubb Security for $US2.1 billion.[6] It changed its name to Williams plc in 1998 and sold Yale Lock Company to Assa Abloy in March 2000.[7]
The company demerged into Chubb and Kidde in July 2000.[8]