AGA Rangemaster Limited is a British manufacturer of range cookers, kitchen appliances, and interior furnishings owned by

Middleby Corporation The Middleby Corporation is a publicly traded American company based in Elgin, Illinois. The company manufactures commercial cooking equipment, industrial processing equipment, and residential appliances. The commercial cooking equipment side of M ...

in September 2015 after it received a takeover approach from

Whirlpool A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...

. It employs just over 2,500 people worldwide. AGA stands for Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator. Aga gc3

Aga Rangemaster (formerly Aga Foodservice Group, ) is the manufacturer of the eponymous

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

cooker Cooker may refer to several types of cooking appliances and devices used for cooking foods. Types * AGA cooker – a heat storage stove and cooker, which works on the principle that a heavy frame made from cast iron components can absorb heat ...

and

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...

(the

AGA Cooker The Aga Range Cooker is a Swedish range Kitchen stove, cooker. Invented and initially produced in Sweden, since 1957 most production has been located in the UK. In 2015, the British AGA Cooker manufacturing company, AGA Rangemaster Group, was a ...

) headquartered in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England. The North American subsidiary of AGA Rangemaster is AGA Marvel which distributes AGA Rangemaster cooking products under the AGA brand name as well as being the manufacturer of Marvel full sized refrigeration and undercounter refrigeration products such as wine cellars, beverage centers, refrigerated drawers, etc.

Products and brands

AGA Rangemaster Group Limited, owns a number of brands including La Cornue, Rangemaster, Divertimenti, Fired Earth, AGA, and Marvel. It manufactures Rayburn and Rangemaster stoves, and various other kitchen equipment, cookware and kitchen furnishings. The Rayburn range was originally a separate product that was produced in the same factory as the Aga cooker.

History

Glynwed, later Glynwed International, was formed in 1939 through the merger of "Glynn Brothers, Builders and Plumbers Merchants of Birmingham" (engineering and plumbing materials) with sister company "The Wednesbury Tube Company" (solid drawn copper tubes). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it made a range of war equipment including brass bars for shell rings and ammunition driving bands. In the aftermath of the war, the company reverted to copper tubes and benefited from the post-WW2 housing boom. Having traded as a public company since 1941, Glynwed expanded rapidly adding additional companies to the group, including in 1969 Allied Ironfounders, the manufacturers of

AGA cooker The Aga Range Cooker is a Swedish range Kitchen stove, cooker. Invented and initially produced in Sweden, since 1957 most production has been located in the UK. In 2015, the British AGA Cooker manufacturing company, AGA Rangemaster Group, was a ...

s, an integrated oil burning oven system. However, Glynwed was acquired by Mueller Industries Inc. (USA) in 1997, and subsequently underwent major reorganisation in 2001, with the pipes business being sold to Etex Group for £786 million, and the remainder being renamed AGA Foodservice. In 2003 Rangemaster was added, and subsequently the firm was renamed Aga Rangemaster in 2008.

acquired the group in 2015 for £129 million, closing the

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shro ...

manufacturing plant in 2017.

Timeline

* 1998 - Focus on just 2 core growth activities – PipeSystems & Consumer & Foodservice * 1999 - Major acquisitions in the US and North America (IPEX, Victory Refrigeration) * 2000 - Group is split into Pipe Systems and Consumer and Foodservice operations. * 2001 - Pipe Systems operations sold to Belgian Group, Etex, for £800m. Capital return made. AGA Foodservice Group becomes the new name for the Group. * 2002 - Focus on creating a major international consumer brand-led operation. Acquisition of a stake in Grange in France provides continental European foothold. * 2003 - AGA and Rangemaster post record performances. Acquisition of Northland - Marvel in the US. * 2005 - Acquisitions of Waterford Stanley. Divertimenti and Heartland Appliances strengthens consumer offering. * 2007 - Foodservice operations sold as Group concentrates on its strong portfolio of consumer brands. Capital return made bringing total return since 2001 to £600m. * 2008 - AGA Rangemaster is created from the remaining consumer businesses. * 2009 - Acquisition of Mercury and Thermastone cooker brands from Lincat for £0.4m. US operations integrated under the AGA Marvel banner. * 2011 - Redfyre Cookers and Don Heating Products businesses acquired from Gazco Ltd for £0.8m. * 2012 - Entered into a bilateral agreement with the Chinese gas burner appliance group Vatti * 2015 - Acquired by the American company

for £129m million * 2017 - Closed the Coalbrookdale Foundry AGA and Rangemaster lead the portfolio of consumer brands which include Divertimenti, Falcon, Mercury, Fired Earth, Grange, Heartland, La Cornue, Leisure Sinks, Redfyre, Marvel, Rayburn and Stanley.

References

External links

Official websiteRangemaster UK
{{Authority control Companies based in Leamington Spa Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Home appliance manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1939 Manufacturing companies of England Privately held companies of England 1939 establishments in England

Products and brands

History

Timeline

References

Further reading

External links