Ansell

Ansell Limited (formerly Pacific Dunlop Limited) is a multinational company specialising in Health care.

History

The company dates back to 1893, when the Irish company, The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, opened a branch office and factory in Melbourne.^[1]

Since then the major milestones have been:

• 1899: Dunlop sold its Australian branch to a Canadian consortium, who incorporated it as the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company of Australasia Ltd. and floated it on the Australian stock exchanges.
• 1906: The company changed its name to the Dunlop Rubber Company of Australasia.
• 1926: Commenced shoe manufacture.
• 1927: Dunlop UK acquired a 25% interest in the company.
• 1929: The company acquired the Perdiau Rubber Company and changed its name to Dunlop Perdiau Rubber Co.
• 1941: Name changed to Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd.
• 1967: Name changed to Dunlop Australia Ltd.
• 1968: Acquired the Ansell Rubber Company, which made rubber products such as gloves, condoms and balloons.
• 1980: Merged with with Olympic Tyre & Rubber and changed its name to Dunlop Olympic Ltd.
• 1984: Dunlop UK sold its 25% interest in the company.
• 1986: Name changed to Pacific Dunlop Ltd.
• 1987: The company transferred all its tyre manufacture and sales operations to a new joint venture with Goodyear Tires, South Pacific Tyres Ltd.

By 1988 the company had diversified well away from rubber products, and had operations in the clothing, footwear, healthcare, batteries and many other sectors. In that year the company's Consumer Products group was renamed Pacific Brands.

The company continued to diversify and acquired significant interests in the food business. It became the world's largest manufacturer and districutor of medical, household and industrial gloves.

In 1997 Pacific Dunlop was amongst Australia's top 50 companies.^[2]

In 1999 Pacific Dunlop entered a major restructuring and in 2001 sold off Pacific Brands, including the manufacturing arms of major Australian brand names Bonds, Slazenger, Dunlop Sport, Holeproof, Berlei and Tontine. At that time it continued to make tyres and rubberware under the Ansell brand name. The managing director commented at the time of the announcement that "condoms are less than 10 percent of Ansell's business, but . . . account for 90 percent of the publicity." ^[3]

The Company's name was changed to Ansell Limited in April 2002 as a result of a strategic repositioning of the Company to concentrate on its core business, protective products and services in a broad healthcare context, and following the disposal of a series of other business units that did not fit within the strategy.

In 2006 the company sold its share in South Pacific Tyres to Goodyear, the other partner in the joint venture.

Today

Ansell Limited is an Australian publicly listed company with its Corporate Head Office located in Richmond, Victoria, Australia. The Company is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as its home exchange and has listings on the London and New Zealand exchanges. In the US, Ansell Limited shares are traded in the form of American Depository Receipts (ADR's) on the NASDAQ.

Products by Ansell

• LifeStyles condoms
• HyFlex industrial gloves
• MICRO-TOUCH medical gloves

Locations

In Thailand Ansell has plants in the Lat Krabang district of Bangkok and in the southern city of Surat Thani. In Malaysia Ansell has plants at Kulim, Melaka and Shah Alam. In Sri Lanka Ansell has a plant at Biyagama in the Colombo area. And in the United States Ansell has plants at Coshocton, Ohio and Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

References

• A History of Pacific Dunlop to 2001

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