Charter International plc was a large

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

business based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was acquired by

Colfax Corporation Enovis (formerly Colfax Corporation) is a medical technology company, with a particular focus in orthopedics. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company is listed on the NYSE as ENOV. The company has over 5,000 employees operating at ...

in January 2012.

History

The

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expect ...

was founded in 1889 by

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

.Charter International: History
On the initiative of

Anglo American Corporation Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people o ...

it merged in 1965 with The Central Mining & Investment Corporation and The Consolidated Mines Selection Company to form Charter Consolidated. Slightly over one-third of the shares of the new company were owned by Anglo American Corporation. Its assets were mainly mining investments and its strategy was to develop as a mining finance house actively engaged in mineral exploration and the development of mines throughout the world. In the 1980s Charter Consolidated disposed of its overseas

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

concerns to concentrate on its

interests. In 1993 the company's name changed to Charter plc. In 1994 it acquired

ESAB ESAB, ''Elektriska Svetsnings- Aktiebolaget'' ( en, Electric Welding Limited company), is an American Swedish industrial company. The ultimate parent company of ESAB is ESAB Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange listed (TickerESAB with its prin ...

and in 1997 it acquired Howden. In 2008 the business was restructured with the creation of a new Irish resident holding company, Charter International plc. The company was acquired by

, an American company, in January 2012.ESAB Acquired by Colfax Corporation
PR Web, 13 January 2012

Operations

The company had two main businesses: *

: welding, cutting and automation * Howden: air and gas handling

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site
Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in London Non-renewable resource companies established in 1965 1965 establishments in the United Kingdom British South Africa Company Technology companies disestablished in 2012 2012 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Tax inversions