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Alvis Ltd. was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc. Alvis plc acquired Vickers Defence Systems from Rolls-Royce in October 2002 to form Alvis Vickers. Alvis Vickers was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Land Systems.
History
Alvis became part of Rover in 1965, which ended the company's car manufacturing in 1967 to allow it to concentrate on the manufacture of armoured vehicles. In 1968 Rover and its Alvis subsidiary were incorporated into British Leyland. In 1981 the then nationalised British Leyland sold the Alvis business to United Scientific Holdings plc for £27 million. United Scientific was a manufacturer of military sighting products.
In 1992 United Scientific adopted the name Alvis plc.
In October 1997 Alvis plc acquired Hägglunds to form Alvis Hagglunds AB. In September 1998 Alvis acquired the armoured vehicle business of GKN plc in a deal which saw GKN take a 29.9% stake in Alvis. GKN's shareholding was purchased by BAE Systems in September 2003 for £73 million. BAE Systems plc (Sept. 02, 2003) "BAE Systems completes purchase of GKN's 29% stake in Alvis". Press release
In early 2000 Alvis sold a share of its Avimo Group optronics subsidiary to Thomson-CSF and sold all of its remaining shareholding to Thales Group (the renamed Thomson-CSF) in 2001.
In 2002 Alvis acquired Vickers Defence Systems from Rolls-Royce for £16 million to form Alvis Vickers "Vickers taken over by Alvis" (Oct. 1, 2002) BBC News The acquisition of Vickers brought the Challenger tank into Alvis' portfolio, as well as Vickers' successful military bridging division and its South African subsidiary Vickers OMC.
BAE takeover
In 2004, the board of Alvis approved a £309m takeover bid by the American defence company General Dynamics. Within 3 months BAE Systems, which already had a 29% stake in the company, outbid General Dynamics by offering £355m. The action was seen as a defence of the home market from a foreign rival. The bid was accepted by the majority of shareholders. "BAE triumphs in tank firm battle" (June 4, 2004) BBC NewsIn September 2004, BAE announced the creation of BAE Systems Land Systems, a new company bringing together the BAE subsidiaries, RO Defence and Alvis Vickers. In 2005, the acquisition of United Defense led to the creation of BAE Systems Land and Armaments.
References
Military vehicle manufacturers
External links
"Alvis plc"