Formica (plastic) - Acquisitions

Acquisitions

In 1956 American Cyanamid acquired Formica Corp. The principal reason was to have a captive buyer for melamine, as Cyanamid was one of the largest producers. However, this was soon thwarted due to an anti-trust action by the US Department of Justice. Through a settlement agreement, Formica Corp. was required to buy a significant share of its melamine needs from competing producers.

Cyanamid operated Formica Corp. as a fully consolidated subsidiary, rather than as an operating division, allowing it to retain the term "Formica" as a corporate name. This gave added protection to the trademark, helping to protect the word from becoming generic -- which had been tried by many competitors, against whom Cyanamid gained legal injunctions, to protect this valuable trademark name. (Historically, many other trademarks owned by other corporations had been allowed to become generic words, such as "shredded wheat" and "thermos" -- a disappointment and loss to their originators. Cyanamid resolutely defended the Formica brand name.)

Dan O'Conor, son of the inventor, continued as president of Formica Corp. after the acquisition. An able executive, he was widely regarded as heir-apparent to become the next Chairman of American Cyanamid. Tragically, he was thrown from his horse during a steeplechase event, suffering a broken neck and becoming quadriplegic. That ended his business career -- and, many executives felt, prevented Cyanamid from achieving as much subsequent growth and profitability as would have been gained under Mr. O'Conor's leadership.

After a 1984 management buyout from American Cyanamid, Formica diversified with products such as solid surfacing, metal laminates and flooring materials.

Since 2007, it has been a subsidiary of the Fletcher Building group which purchased it from private equity investors Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC.