Goodrich Corporation - History

History

By 1986 B.F. Goodrich had become an S&P 500-listed company in diverse business, including tire and rubber fabrication. B.F. Goodrich made high-performance replacement tires. In August 1986, one of its biggest competitors in the tire business, Uniroyal Inc., was taken private when it merged with the tire segment of the B.F. Goodrich Company, in a joint venture private partnership, to become the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company. B.F. Goodrich Company held a 50% stake in the new tire company.

The new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company headquarters was set up at the former B.F. Goodrich corporate headquarters, within its 27-building downtown complex in Akron, Ohio which contained Goodrich's original factory. In the fall of 1987 B.F. Goodrich Company shut down several manufacturing operations at the site, and most of the complex remained vacant until February 1988, when B.F. Goodrich announced plans to sell the vacant part of the complex to the Covington Capital Corporation, a group of New York developers.

In 1987, its first full year of operation, the new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company generated almost $2 billion in sales revenue, with profits of $35 million.

However, the merger soon proved to be difficult. In June 1988 B.F. Goodrich sold its 50% stake for $225 million. The buyers were a group of investors led by Clayton & Dubilier, Inc. a private New York investment firm. At the same time, B.F. Goodrich also received a warrant to purchase indirectly up to 7% of the equity in Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company.

As part of the June 1988 sale deal, the new privately held tire company acquired publicly held debt of $415 million.

Also in 1988, Michelin Group, a subsidiary of the French tire company Michelin et Cie (Euronext: ML) proposed to acquire the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company and took actions towards acquiring a stake.

By May 1990, Michelin Group had completed its buyout of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company from Clayton & Dubilier of New York. The deal was valued at about US$1.5 billion. B.F. Goodrich surrendered its 7% warrant to Michelin Group, and received $32.5 million additional revenue from the sale.

B.F. Goodrich by then exited the tire business entirely, in line with its plan to build its chemicals and aerospace businesses through reinvestment and acquisitions. In 1997 it acquired Rohr, a maker of jet aircraft engine nacelles (the aerodynamic structures that surround aircraft engines), expanding its presence in integrated aircraft components industry. In 1999 it acquired Charlotte, North Carolina-based Coltec Industries for $2.2 billion in stock and assumed debt, making the former tire maker the No. 1 supplier of landing gear and other aircraft parts. Headquarters were moved to Charlotte following this merger. In 2001 the Company divested its specialty chemicals business to focus on aerospace and industrial products and, to signify the completion of its transformation, it was renamed Goodrich Corporation and adopted a new logo.

In October 2002, Goodrich acquired TRW Aeronautical Systems, this division was mainly the former Lucas Aerospace activity, mostly based in the UK and France. ]].

In November 2010, Goodrich opened a large new manufacturing centre in Rzeszow, Poland.

In September 2011, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) announced a deal to buy Goodrich for $18.4 billion, paying $127.50 per share and assuming $1.9 billion in debt.

On July 26, 2012, United Technologies Corporation purchased Goodrich. Unsold Divisions of Hamilton Sundstrand and Goodrich were then merged, to create UTC Aerospace Systems. Rocketdyne, Hamilton Sundstrand's industrial pumps and compressors operations, Clipper Windpower, and United Tech's fuel-cell business—would be sold off to raise cash for the deal.