Amoskeag Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Amsokeag Company was an American holding company in the textile sector and in rail transport. It was ruled by the Dumaine family.

history

The textile company Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester (New Hampshire) had prospered strongly until after the end of the First World War. However, it became apparent in the mid-1920s that growth in the textile industry would slow down. In order to save the generated funds from a possible collapse, the company's chief financial officer Frederic C. Dumaine Sr. (born 1866) created the Amoskeag Company as a kind of holding company. At the same time he created the Dumaine Foundations for his seven children, who managed the company shares on behalf of the children and grandchildren. In addition, the foundations also administered the Arthur T. Walker Estate Corporation from 1966 . The capital not required for day-to-day operations was withdrawn from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, not invested further and collected in the Amoskeag Company. As a result of the global economic crisis, sales fell dramatically and the textile factory was closed in 1935.

From the late 1940s and 1950s, the Amoskeag Company began using the cash it had available (including 5 million from the sale of the textile factory) to invest primarily in railway companies in New England . With the help of Patrick B. McGinnis , the company acquired a stake in the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (New Haven) in 1948 and Frederick C. Dumaine Sr. became president of the company.

In 1951 Frederick C. Dumaine Sr. died and his son Frederick C. "Buck" Dumaine Jr. (1902–1997) took over the management of the company and the foundations.

After a lost proxy fight against McGinnis in 1954, participation in New Haven was given up. The company, which had previously been organized as an amalgamation of foundations and individual shareholders, was transformed into a corporation registered in Delaware in 1965 . 1966 the company took part in the Delaware and Hudson Railroad , in the years 1966-67 Dumaine was President and Chairman of the company. At the same time, the company took a stake in the Maine Central Railroad and last held around 35%, but control of the company was defeated by the latter. In 1969, the Amoskeag Company acquired the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad from Bangor Punta for $ 5 million . Other investments were held in the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway , the Springfield Street Railway and the Worchester Bus Co. until the 1970s and early 1980s.

Due to the competition from truck traffic and the decline of the manufacturing industry, the railway companies in the northeast also got into economic difficulties. The Boston and Maine Corporation , in which Amoskeag held bonds, had been in bankruptcy administration since 1970. In this situation, Frederick Dumaine made the proposal in 1974 to merge Bangor & Aroostock, Boston & Maine, Delaware & Hudson and Maine Central Railroad into one railroad company. However, this proposal was not implemented. The holdings in the railway companies were therefore sold again except for the property of Bangor & Aroostock or became obsolete as part of corporate reorganizations.

Other holdings of the Amoskeag Company were Avis Autovermietung from 1958 to 1962 and the food producer Fanny Farmer from 1962 to 1984 as well as the Moores Falls Corporation and the Westville Homes Corporation.

From the mid-1970s, there were internal family disputes over the direction of the company. Since the supervisory boards of the foundations were still often appointed by Frederic Dumaine Sr., the management of the foundations was very old. So the foundation managers largely took control of the Amoskeag Company.

With the acquisition of the textile company Fieldcrest Mills from Marshall Field & Co. in 1953, the company began to become active again in the textile sector. 1986 Fieldcrest was merged with the acquired Cannon Mills to Fieldcrest Cannon . From that point on, the company was responsible for 98% of Amoskeag's sales. Due to differences between the beneficiaries of the Dumaine Foundations and the foundation management, the participation in Fieldcrest Cannon and Amoskeag was called into question in early 1993. At that time, the Foundations had 76% voting rights in the Amoskeag Company and Amoskeag controlled 80% of the voting shares.

A short time later, among others, the competitor Springs Industries announced that he would acquire Fieldcrest Cannon for 330 million dollars. All of these offers were rejected. The company was also considering acquiring Amoskeag. This was rejected by the Dumaine Foundations.

Finally, Fieldcrest Cannon decided to acquire the Amoskeag Company for $ 137.6 million to prevent possible takeover attempts or sales intentions by the foundations.

The Amoskeag Company thus went from a holding company to a subsidiary. In 1995, the still owned Bangor and Aroostock Railroad was sold to Iron Road Railways .

In 1997 Fieldcrest Cannon was taken over by the Pillowtex Corporation . Pillowtex went bankrupt in 2003 and was broken up in 2007.

Corporate management

president

  • until 1939: George P. Gardner
  • 1939–1946: Frederic C. Dumaine Sr.
  • 1946–1978: Frederic C. Dumaine Jr. (also CEO)
  • 1978–1980 Dudley Dumaine (CEO)
  • 1980–1985: Joseph B. Ely II
  • January 1986 – October 1990: James M. Fitzgibbons (CEO until July 2, 1992)
  • July 2, 1992–1993: W. Randle Mitchell Jr. (also CEO)

Chairman of the Board

  • 1946–1951: Frederic C. Dumaine Sr.
  • 1951–1979: Frederic C. Dumaine Jr.
  • 1980–1983: Albert Barker Hunt (1910–2009)
  • 1983–1990: Joseph B. Ely II
  • 1990-1993: James M. Fitzgibbons

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert E. Bedingfield: Amoskeag Official Seeks Rail Merger . In: The New York Times . August 19, 1974, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 17, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Bloomberg News: COMPANY NEWS; FIELDCREST CANNON COMPLETES BID FOR AMOSKEAG . ( nytimes.com [accessed April 18, 2018]).
  3. ^ Obituary for Albert Barker in Wayland Town Crier. Retrieved April 18, 2018 .