Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) was a British holding company formed in 1928 through the merger of the British Thomson-Houston Company (BTH) and Metropolitan-Vickers electrical engineering companies. In 1967 AEI was acquired by GEC, to create the UK's largest electrical group.
AEI was created from several brands such as Metropolitan-Vickers, BTH, Ferguson & Pailin (switchgear), Edison Swan (lamps and radio valves), Siemens Bros., Hotpoint (domestic appliances), W.T. Henley, Newton Victor (X-ray machines), and Birlec (electric furnaces).
Rivalry existed between Metrovick and BTH brands in the Electrical Engineering field, resulting in internal competition and duplicated management. In 1959 AEI decided to remove those brands and consolidate both as AEI brands, resulting in internal problems and a fall in sales and resulting market value.
This paved the way for a merger in 1967 with the recently restructured GEC under Arnold Weinstock. GEC later went through substantial restucturing, including in 1989 forming GEC ALSTHOM & Cegelec Projects.
GEC ALSTHOM was created from the GEC's Power & Transport businesses (originally AEI (previously BTH & Metrovick) and English Electric) and the French Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) the merger was to enable both companies a greater export into Europe.
GEC in Rugby was split into GEC Alstom and Cegelec Projects, but in 1998 the two companies were reunited under the Alstom banner.
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