HANSON History

The HANSON brand was first used in commerce by a Yorkshire farmer’s wife, Mary Hanson, in 1846. The HANSON business she founded transported goods such as wool and furniture by packhorse.  Today known as HANSON Logistics,  the business has been in continuous operation since its founding.  Lord Hanson was the 8th Hanson to own and operate the business.   

In 1964,  Lord Hanson and Lord White launched a new HANSON business, deploying one of the most successful acquisition strategies in history.  Starting with a small public company in the printing business, they proceeded to make a string of acquisitions that was unprecedented.  

Renamed HANSON TRUST and later HANSON PLC, the company led by Lord Hanson and Lord White used savvy dealmaking to grow all the way into the Fortune 500, becoming one of the top 100 companies on the New York Stock Exchange in the mid 1990’s. HANSON’s historic run of acquisitions increased the value of the company over 1,000 times.  

The run included many legendary transactions,  bold bets, and hostile takeovers.  Underneath the strategy were sound profit enhancements principles.  HANSON didn’t buy undervalued companies to break them up, but rather to improve them and add them to HANSON, creating an every bigger conglomerate of immense size and global reach.  It was an acquisition run that has never been equalled.

In 1996, with investors increasingly favoring specialized businesses over conglomerates, the run finally ended.   In 1996 Hanson PLC was demerged into four separate companies:  Imperial Tobacco, The Energy Group, Millennium Chemicals, and Hanson PLC.  The Hanson PLC that emerged from the reorganization was focused on building materials.  Hanson PLC was privatized by Heidelberg in September 2007.   

• The first HANSON business started in 1846, transporting goods on horseback.
• In 1964, Lord Hanson and Lord White took over a small public company and started making acquisitions.
• Their acquisition strategy was based on enhancing profits at everyday companies including building materials, chemicals and industrial supplies.   
• Renamed HANSON TRUST, in the 1980’s the company became one of the five largest enterprises in Britain. 
• Later renamed HANSON PLC,  in 1990 the company had grown to include over 150 subsidiaries.  Through acquisitions HANSON PLC  became one of the largest companies in the world, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol HAN.
• The HANSON run is greatest and most successful run of acquisitions in history.  And whilst other takeover leaders broke up companies, HANSON added them to an increasing list of well managed subsidiaries.  
• Lord Hanson and Lord White led the historic run, from start to finish.  After his investment banking career at Rothschild, Lord Hanson’s son Robert  joined the run as head of M&A at HANSON.
• When conglomerates fell out of fashion with investment markets in the mid 1990’s,  the run finally came to a close – 30 years later.   After the de-merging of HANSON into the four companies in 1996, the historic acquisition run was over.  
• With the market’s increasing focus on industry specialization, its a run that may never be equalled.

After leaving HANSON PLC, Lord Hanson and his son Robert formed Hanson Family Investments, Hanson Capital and Millennium Hanson.   Lord Hanson passed on in 2004.   Today, the Hon. Robert W. Hanson leads the Hanson businesses – including the HANSON company founded in 1846 by Mary Hanson.   Robert is the 9th Hanson to own and manage the business.