History
The roots of today's OC Oerlikon are to be found in the Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon, which was founded in 1906, and later evolved into the Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG in 1973. After a restructuring process and the sale of some core assets, the holding changed its name to Unaxis.
The Austrian Victory Industriebeteiligung AG bought a majority of Unaxis stock in 2005 in a highly emotional battle and initiated a restructuring effort.
In May 2006, the company decided to rename itself into OC Oerlikon, a reference to its roots. The "OC" in the name stands for "One Company".
In January 2007, the company integrated the Swiss conglomerate Saurer AG.
Following the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009, the company went through an operational restructuring involving lay-offs and major changes in the management team. A proposal for recapitalisation was met with approval at the Annual General Meeting on May 18, 2010. The recapitalisation reduced the group's debt by CHF 998 million and brought the company CHF 276 million in new liquidity.
In 2012 Oerlikon Solar was divested to Tokyo Electron Limited.
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