surname . tomkins plc type public limited company industry engineering founded 1925 headquarters london united kingdom key people david newlands chairman james nicol ceo revenue us 4 180.1 million 2009 1 operating income us 84.7 million 2009 1 net income us 15.6 million 2009 1 owner onex and the canada pension plan investment board number of employees circa 30 000 1 website www.tomkins.co.uk tomkins plc is a multinational engineering company headquartered in london united kingdom . its largest division is industrial & automotive which is a major supplier of automotive components and trades primarily under the dexter axle gates ideal clamp products and schrader electronics brands . 1 its building products division is a major supplier of air distribution products and systems and bath products and trades primarily under the aquatic brand . in july 2010 tomkins was acquired by a canadian consortium of private equity firm onex corporation and the canada pension plan investment board . in july 2014 the blackstone group the world s largest buyout firm agreed to acquire the gates corporation the largest division of tomkins plc from onex corp. ocx and canada pension plan investment board for 5.4 billion . 2 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 references 4 external links history edit tomkins was founded in 1925 as f.h. tomkins buckle company a small manufacturer of buckles and fasteners . 3 it was first listed on the london stock exchange in 1956 . in 1983 ex lord hanson employee greg hutchings acquired a 22.9 % stake in the company and subsequently was appointed chief executive . 4 hutchings expanded tomkins in a classical conglomerate form through leveraged buyouts and during the 1980s and early 1990s the company embarked on a succession of acquisitions which rapidly grew its revenue product range and global reach . major acquisitions included smith & wesson in 1987 5 rhm in 1992 6 the us based gates corporation in 1996 7 which signalled a move into the industrial and automotive markets and the stant 8 and schrader 9 businesses that further bolstered this division . during this era tomkins was regarded as the archetypal multi industrial conglomerate with a portfolio of assets that had little or nothing in common with one another and indeed the media delighted in referring to tomkins as the buns to guns company 10 because of its ownership of rhm baking and smith & wesson firearms . hutchings was forced to resign from the company in 2000 over a series of false allegations of executive excess . 4 tomkins sold rhm shortly thereafter 6 and smith & wesson the following year . 5 after an unsolicited approach in july 2010 tomkins was acquired by a canadian consortium of private equity firm onex corporation and the canada pension plan investment board for 2.9 billion . 11 in november 2012 tomkins sold their portion of the building products group that included hart and cooley selkirk and ruskin to the cppib . 12 operations edit tomkins has two business groups industrial and automotive the larger business producing products primarily for the automotive industry . bath products produces products including pipes baths and windows . references edit a b c d e annual report 2009 pdf . tomkins plc. retrieved 26 september 2010 . banerjee devin 4 april 2014 . blackstone agrees to buy gates global in 5.4 billion lbo . bloomberg . tomkins history a b hutchings forced to quit a b smith & wesson is sold to maker of trigger locks a b tomkins sells rhm for 1.1 bn tomkins agrees to buy gates rubber tomkins to buy stant deal for equipment maker tomkins loses buns to guns tag with sale of rhm to doughty hanson tomkins agrees to 2.9 bn takeover deal . bbc news . july 27 2010 . retrieved july 27 2010 . cppib and onex announce completion of agreement involving tomkins air distribution division pdf . retrieved 29 november 2012 . external links edit official website yahoo profile v t e onex corporation subsidiaries hawker beechcraft spirit aerosystems tomkins plc carestream health corporate directors daniel c. casey william a. etherington peter c. godsoe serge gouin ewout r. heersink arianna huffington john b. mccoy j. robert s. prichard heather m. reisman gerald w. schwartz arni c. thorsteinson v t e onex corporation subsidiaries hawker beechcraft spirit aerosystems tomkins plc carestream health corporate directors daniel c. casey william a. etherington peter c. godsoe serge gouin ewout r. heersink arianna huffington john b. mccoy j. robert s. prichard heather m. reisman gerald w. schwartz arni c. thorsteinson v t e automotive industry in the united kingdom manufacturing in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom companies and marques commercial vehicle producers current alexander dennis plaxton dennis eagle ibc vehicles jcb leyland trucks the london taxi company optare smith electric vehicles stevens wrightbus former albion aec bedford bristol clough smith commer daimler erf foden ford southampton plant guy jensen karrier ldv modec scammell seddon atkinson sentinel shelvoke and drewry straker squire thornycroft tilling stevens motorsport advanced engine research arena motorsport carlin chevron cars cosworth dowdeswell and hardie engine developments ltd. force india ford world rally team fortec hewland ilmor lola cars manor racing marussia f1 mclaren mercedes amg high performance powertrains mercedes amg m sport munchi s prodrive radical red bull racing renault sport f1 team ricardo rml group roger dowson engineering sumo power team dynamics triple eight van diemen williams f1 wirth xtrac zytek motorsport passenger car producers current ariel ascari aston martin bentley crewe plant bmw group mini plant oxford plant swindon rolls royce goodwood plant briggs bristol caparo caterham electric car corporation fenix ford of britain bridgend engine dagenham plant dunton technical centre ginetta honda uk jaguar land rover jaguar land rover daimler castle bromwich plant gaydon centre halewood plant solihull plant whitley 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vehicle technologies cosworth cummins uk gkn gkn driveline johnson matthey lotus engineering mira perkins engines pilkington quaife ricardo tata steel europe tickford tomkins trl unipart wipac wmg zytek former dunlop rubber ferodo gardner hardy spicer henry meadows laycock engineering lucas industries lucasvarity white and poppe government and regulatory bodies department for transport driver and vehicle licensing agency driving standards agency vehicle certification agency vehicle and operator services agency related topics automobile designers automobile magazines am magazine autocar auto trader auto express car classic & sports car evo fast car motor sport octane top gear what car institute of advanced motorists iam motorcycle manufacturers royal society for the prevention of accidents rospa society of motor manufacturers and traders top gear category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title tomkins plc & oldid 743178066 categories conglomerate companies of the united kingdomengineering companies of the united kingdomcompanies based in londoncompanies formerly listed on the london stock exchangecompanies formerly listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies established in 19251925 establishments in englandbritish companies established in 1925manufacturing companies established in 1925holding companies established in 1925 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 09 24 . text is available under the creative 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