 | |
| Formerly | Boc Group plc British Oxygen Company Brin's Oxygen Company |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Industrial gas |
| Founded | 1886 |
| Headquarters | Woking, England |
Number of employees | 30,000 (2005) [1] |
| Parent | Linde plc |
| Website | www.boconline.co.uk |
BOC Limited is a British based multinational, industrial gas company. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, since 2006 it has been a subsidiary of Linde plc.
Brin's Oxygen Company was formed in 1886, by two French brothers, Arthur and Léon Brin. In the early years, the company manufactured oxygen using a high-temperature barium oxide process, known as the Brin process, developed from the work of French scientist Jean-Baptiste Boussingault. The main application for gaseous oxygen at that time was in connection with the generation of limelight, used in magic lanterns and theatre lighting.
A major new market emerged around 1903, with the development of the oxyacetylene welding process. Around the same time, new cryogenic air separation processes had been devised independently in Britain, the United States and Germany. The German engineer and founder of the Linde Group, Carl von Linde, won the patent for the process. The Brin brothers negotiated an agreement to use the Linde patents. In exchange, von Linde was given a stake and a board position in Brin's Oxygen Company, which he held until 1914. The new process replaced the inefficient barium oxide process, paving the way for larger-scale and more efficient production.
In 1906, the Brin brothers renamed the company the British Oxygen Company (BOC). [2] During the First World War, the business increased significantly as the mass production of needed war machinery—ships, tanks and trucks—involved either metal cutting or welding. In the post-war period, it grew by acquisitions, which included Sparklets Ltd, Allen-Liversidge Ltd and the Quasi-Arc Company.
During the Second World War, the gases for munitions and for medical needs were provided by BOC. As in the First World War, the business grew. After the war, BOC formed subsidiaries in over twenty countries. In the 1950s, due to the increased demand for automobiles, improved methods of manufacturing steel were invented which required "tonnage" oxygen. This meant a further increase in business for BOC.
BOC diversified into many industries in the 1960s and 1970s. One was the refrigeration market and it set up a joint venture called BOC-Linde Refrigeration, with Linde of Germany in 1968. It also acquired Ace Refrigeration Ltd and J. Muirhead Ltd, quick-frozen food suppliers, in 1969.
With the plan of expanding into the Far East, it set up British Oxygen (Far East) Ltd, based in Tokyo. It established subsidiaries and joint ventures in Jamaica, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden and Spain for a number of products; which included transformers, magnetising equipment, frozen foods, stable isotopes, radioactively labelled compounds and cryogenic systems. In 1971, the company installed the largest mainframe computer in the United Kingdom, linking a network of computers throughout the country, and sold computer time to outside customers. As a result, BOC diversified into the computer business.
The 1973 oil crisis led to a rethinking of BOC's future strategy. It divested non-strategic assets; and concentrated on its primary business, especially the gases and health care markets, and the expansion of these businesses to Europe, the Americas and the Far East. In 1975, the company became BOC International Ltd, reflecting its success in developing business outside of Britain, and in products beyond oxygen.
An important part of BOC's history was the acquisition of Airco Industrial Gases, an American competitor. After 11 years of litigation, in 1978 Airco became a wholly owned subsidiary of BOC. The enlarged company changed its name to the BOC Group.
In 1999, reports emerged that the U.S. industrial gases company Praxair, which in 1992 spun off from Linde's U.S. division, 'Union Carbide Industrial Gases', [3] were in possible merger discussions with BOC. [4] Following the breakup of the talks, France's Air Liquide and Air Products & Chemicals made a series of cash offers to acquire the group. [5] On 13 July 1999, the BOC board approved a pre-conditional cash offer of £14.60 per share. BOC's assets were to be divided between Air Liquide and Air Products in the US$11 billion deal. [6] [7] On 12 May 2000, the bid lapsed, following failure to reach a satisfactory agreement with the United States Federal Trade Commission. [8]
Following the collapse of the bid, BOC developed a new strategy to stimulate business growth in new products and markets and to reshape its existing portfolio of businesses to improve Group performance. In 2001, BOC announced it was cutting 1,500 jobs. In late 2002, the company merged its Japanese industrial and medical gas businesses with those of Air Liquide to form Japan Air Gases. BOC also acquired Praxair's operations in Poland.
In November 2003, BOC announced that it would complete the sale of Afrox Healthcare—a hospital and managed health care group operating in South Africa—to a consortium led by Black Economic Empowerment investors. [9]
The BOC's total revenues in 2005, including its share of joint ventures and associate companies, were £4.6 billion and was then the second largest industrial gas supplier in the world. Industrial gases business made up for more than 80% of sales. The group was getting nearly one-third of its revenues from Asia Pacific; Europe accounted for 28% and the Americas 27%. [6]
In January 2006, the Linde Group made a preliminary proposal to acquire BOC based on a £15 per share all-cash offer, which was rejected by the BOC board of directors. In March 2006, the second proposal based on a £16 per share all-cash offer, valuing the company at £8.2bn (US$14.4bn; €12bn), was accepted and takeover was completed on 5 September 2006. [10] [11] After nearly a century of intermittent courtship, BOC became a part of Linde Group and the synergy overtook Air Liquide as the global market leader. [6]
On 6 September, BOC employees received a welcome pack including a letter from Linde CEO Professor Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle, a small badge representing the new logo of The Linde Group and a Swatch watch. Many of these watches quickly appeared on eBay. On 12 March 2007, the Linde Group divested the vacuum business known as BOC Edwards to the private investment group CCMP Capital.
The BOC business activities included:
When BOC was a global company, the head office of BOC was in Windlesham, a small village approximately 25 miles south-west of London. The office, built in the 1980s is a fine example of modern architecture and when seen from the air resembles the shape of an oxygen molecule. This office was used by Kamkorp Group and then stood empty before being sold to Gordon Murray Automotive in February 2020. [13] [14] Many of the staff that was based in the Windlesham office have since moved to the BOC office in Woking and Linde plc's head office in Munich, Germany.
Liquid air is air that has been cooled to very low temperatures, so that it has condensed into a pale blue mobile liquid. It is stored in specialized containers, such as vacuum flasks, to insulate it from room temperature. Liquid air can absorb heat rapidly and revert to its gaseous state. It is often used for condensing other substances into liquid and/or solidifying them, and as an industrial source of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and other inert gases through a process called air separation.
Carl Paul Gottfried von Linde was a German scientist, engineer, and businessman. He discovered the refrigeration cycle and invented the first industrial-scale air separation and gas liquefaction processes, which led to the first reliable and efficient compressed-ammonia refrigerator in 1876.
Linde plc is a global multinational chemical company founded in Germany and, since 2018, domiciled in Ireland and headquartered in the United Kingdom. Linde is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. It serves customers in the healthcare, petroleum refining, manufacturing, food, beverage carbonation, fiber-optics, steel making, aerospace, material handling equipment (MHE), chemicals, electronics and water treatment industries. The company's primary business is the manufacturing and distribution of atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, rare gases, and process gases, including carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, ammonia, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.
Air Liquide S.A. is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is the second largest supplier of industrial gases by revenues and has operations in over 70 countries. It has headquarters at the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Air Liquide owned the patent for Aqua-Lung until it expired.
Liquefaction of gases is physical conversion of a gas into a liquid state (condensation). The liquefaction of gases is a complicated process that uses various compressions and expansions to achieve high pressures and very low temperatures, using, for example, turboexpanders.
Industrial gases are the gaseous materials that are manufactured for use in industry. The principal gases provided are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, hydrogen, helium and acetylene, although many other gases and mixtures are also available in gas cylinders. The industry producing these gases is also known as industrial gas, which is seen as also encompassing the supply of equipment and technology to produce and use the gases. Their production is a part of the wider chemical Industry.
Praxair, Inc. was an American worldwide industrial gases company. Founded in 1907, Praxair was the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and the third-largest worldwide by revenue. In 2018 it merged with Linde AG to form Linde plc. The Praxair name was discontinued on September 1, 2020 in the US.
IMA Life S.r.l is one of the few companies which are prominent in the manufacturing of freeze dryers especially for the pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, aseptic processing and filling solutions. It was previously owned by the BOC Group and then the Linde Group until recently when it was bought by the IMA Group based in Italy.
An air separation plant separates atmospheric air into its primary components, typically nitrogen and oxygen, and sometimes also argon and other rare inert gases.
A cryogenic gas plant is an industrial facility that creates molecular oxygen, molecular nitrogen, argon, krypton, helium, and xenon at relatively high purity. As air is made up of nitrogen, the most common gas in the atmosphere, at 78%, with oxygen at 19%, and argon at 1%, with trace gasses making up the rest, cryogenic gas plants separate air inside a distillation column at cryogenic temperatures to produce high purity gasses such as argon, nitrogen, oxygen, and many more with 1 ppm or less impurities. The process is based on the general theory of the Hampson-Linde cycle of air separation, which was invented by Carl von Linde in 1895.
Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc. produces industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and associated gas handling equipment, in North America. MATHESON offers semiconductor, medical, welding, atmospheric gases, rare gases delivered via pipelines, onsite generators, bulk tanks, and in gas cylinders to customers using gases in their labs, semiconductor fabs, hospitals, chemical plants, manufacturing and many other processes. Furthermore, MATHESON also designs and manufactures gas purification systems, generators, delivery systems, filters, gas purifiers, detection equipment, control valves, and management accessories; and gas cylinder enclosures, source manifolds, and panels, as well as helium recovery solutions. In addition, the company provides support, engineering, and systems management services to analytical laboratories and semiconductor manufacturers worldwide.
Jamshedpur is the largest urban conglomeration in the state of Jharkhand, India and is also the first well-planned industrial city of India, founded by late Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata. It is also known as Steel City and Tatanagar or simply Tata. In terms of economy Jamshedpur has second largest economy after Dhanbad in Jharkhand.
Lincare Holdings Inc. was a publicly traded healthcare company headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. Lincare was leading the respiratory homecare industry by serving approximately 1.8 million patients nationwide Lincare operates from over 700 locations in 49 states across the United States and employs 10,000 people, including 1,300 licensed clinicians. Products and services provided by Lincare include, but are not limited to, oxygen, nebulizers, sleep apnea products, home INR testing, ventilator products, enteral therapy, and homecare respiratory therapy services. Additional products provided by Lincare are durable medical equipment, including wheelchairs, walkers, and hospital beds.
Edwards Ltd is a British multinational vacuum pump and exhaust gas management systems manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Burgess Hill, UK, and has been part of the Atlas Copco Group since 2014. Edwards holds 1,700 patents, including for dry (oil-free) vacuum pumps, and produces equipment used for manufacturing semiconductors, scientific research, freeze drying and other industries. Its pumps remove contaminants at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Manufacturing is predominantly handled by subsidiary businesses in the Czech Republic, South Korea, USA and China. Edwards' global research and development facilities remain in the UK.
The Messer Group GmbH is a supplier of industrial gases. Business is focused on 30 European and Asian countries. The company headquarters are located in Bad Soden (Germany). The managing director of the family company is Stefan Messer, grandson of the company founder.
William Hampson (1854–1926) was the first person to patent a process for liquifying air.
BOC Kenya plc (BOCKL), also BOC Kenya, is a manufacturing company in Kenya. The company manufactures and markets industrial and medical gases.
Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation, commonly known as NSHD, is a Japanese multinational industrial gas manufacturer incorporated in 1910 as Nippon Sanso Corporation. The company was founded in 1918.
Liquid Nitrogen Wash is a process mainly used for the production of ammonia synthesis gas within fertilizer production plants. It is usually the last purification step in the ammonia production process sequence upstream of the actual ammonia production.
INOX Air Products, also known as INOX AP, is the India-based industrial gas company. It is a joint venture between INOX Leasing and Finance Limited and Air Products & Chemicals. The company is engaged in the manufacturing, trading, and supply of industrial and medical gases including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, nitrous oxide, acetylene, and specialty gas mixtures.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
