Esselte is a manufacturer and marketer of office products and business supplies with

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

in 25 countries and sales in over 120 countries. Esselte makes files, binders, folders, covers, staplers, letter trays and computer accessories under the Esselte, Leitz,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Pendaflex Pendaflex is a maker of office filing products headquartered in Melville, New York, United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of TOPS Products. History 1882–1909: Early years The company was founded in Manhattan in 1882 by brothers Charles ...

, Rapid and Xyron brands. Customers range from

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

rs and direct marketers to office superstores and mass retailers. Founded in 1913 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, Esselte is today owned by American office supplies manufacturer

ACCO Brands ACCO Brands Corporation is an American multinational company. It was created by the merger of ACCO World from Fortune Brands with General Binding Corporation (GBC). History In 1903, Fred J. Kline founded the Clipper Manufacturing Company (a m ...

History

Founded in 1913, when 13 Swedish printing and graphic businesses joined forces to create the company —abbreviated ''SLT''—in 1970, the company renamed itself Esselte, reflecting the pronunciation of the abbreviation. In 1986, Esselte built Filmstaden Downtown in Gothenburg and a cinema complex in Malmö. Two years later Esselte and

Svensk Filmindustri SF Studios is Sweden’s largest film studio. It is involved in production, distribution, and movie theater market chains (both Swedish and international, including American) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen ...

(SF) formed a joint cinema company and in 1992 SF became the main owner. In 2002, the Boston, Massachusetts-based US private equity investment firm J. W. Childs Associates purchased Esselte for approximately $560 million in a transaction originated and introduced by Jonathan Slater of Sequel Management, a Boston-based transaction sponsor. At the time of the Esselte acquisition by J. W. Childs, the company was dual listed on the Stockholm and London Stock Exchanges and had revenues in excess of $1 billion.

Acquisitions

In 1978, Esselte acquired the Dymo Corporation which grew to revenues of approximately $225 million by 2005 when it was sold to Newell Rubbermaid for approximately $730 million (more than 1.3 times the price J. W. Childs paid for Esselte itself back in 2002). In 1998, the company acquired Leitz, a leading German manufacturer of office products. In 2010, Esselte acquired Isaberg Rapid, a leading stapling company based in Sweden, and Ampad, a leading North American manufacturer of office products.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2017 mergers and acquisitions Manufacturing companies based in Stockholm Manufacturing companies established in 1913 Office supply companies Stationery Swedish brands Swedish companies established in 1913 ACCO Brands