Thorn Electrical Industries

Former type	Public
Fate	Merged
Successor	Thorn EMI
Founded	1928
Defunct	1998
Headquarters	London, UK
Industry	Electrical engineering

Thorn Electrical Industries, Limited was an electrical engineering business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange but it merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979. It demerged again in 1996 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Nomura Group just two years later.

[edit] History

The Company was founded by Jules Thorn in March 1928 as The Electric Lamp Service Company Ltd.. In 1932 Thorn began making light bulbs in Edmonton, North London. The company grew rapidly to become Thorn Lighting, one of the world’s largest producers of lamps, luminaires and lighting components. The name changed to Thorn Electrical Industries in November 1936. The company later began to diversify by buying Ferguson Radio Corporation in 1936 and Ultra Radio & Television in 1961.^[1]

In 1965 Thorn took over local firm Glover and Main, gas appliance manufacturers.^[2]

In October 1979 Thorn merged with EMI to form Thorn EMI.^[3]

On 16 August 1996, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerging Thorn again and the electronics and rentals divisions were divested as Thorn plc.^[4]

Thorn was acquired by Future Rentals, a subsidiary of Nomura Group in 1998;^[5] it subsequently passed to Terra Firma Capital Partners who set up the Brighthouse chain. The remainder of the company was sold to a private buyer in June 2007.^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Thorn Lighting

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