How it started
History
Glynwed, later Glynwed International, was formed in 1939 through the merger of "Glynn Brothers, Builders and Plumbers Merchants of Birmingham" (engineering and plumbing materials) with sister company "The Wednesbury Tube Company" (solid drawn copper tubes). During World War II it made a range of war equipment including brass bars for shell rings and ammunition driving bands. In the aftermath of the war, the company reverted to copper tubes and benefited from the post-WW2 housing boom.
Having traded as a public company since 1941, Glynwed expanded rapidly adding additional companies to the group, including in 1969 Allied Ironfounders, the manufacturers of AGA cookers, an integrated oil burning oven system. However, Glynwed was acquired by Mueller Industries Inc. (USA) in 1997, and subsequently underwent major reorganisation in 2001, with the pipes business being sold to Etex Group for £786 million, and the remainder being renamed AGA Foodservice. In 2003 Rangemaster was added, and subsequently the firm was renamed Aga Rangemaster in 2008. Middleby Corporation acquired the group in 2015 for £129 million, closing the Coalbrookdale manufacturing plant in 2017.
1999 - Major acquisitions in the US and North America (IPEX, Victory Refrigeration)
2000 - Group is split into Pipe Systems and Consumer and Foodservice operations.
2001 - Pipe Systems operations sold to Belgian Group, Etex, for £800m. Capital return made. AGA Foodservice Group becomes the new name for the Group.
From Wikipedia’s article on Aga Rangemaster Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2