Landis+Gyr AG is a publicly listed,

multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

operating in over 30 countries and headquartered in Cham, Switzerland. Landis+Gyr makes meters and related software for electricity, gas and water utilities.

History

Landis+Gyr was founded in 1896 as ''Theiler & Co.'' in

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

, in the

canton of Zug The canton of Zug or canton of Zoug (, Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in central Switzerland and its Capital (political), capital is Zug. At the canton is one of the smallest ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, by technician Richard Theiler and entrepreneur Adelrich Gyr. It began by manufacturing

electricity meter file:Hydro quebec meter.JPG, North American domestic analog signal, analog (Galileo Ferraris, Ferraris disk) electricity meter. file:Transparent Electricity Meter found in Israel.JPG, Electricity meter with transparent plastic case (Israel) fil ...

s that were developed by Theiler. Heinrich Landis joined the business in 1903, acquired it in 1904 and introduced Karl Heinrich Gyr as a partner in 1905, renaming it ''Landis & Gyr''. The company benefited from the rise of the electronics industry and expanded abroad over the following years. By 1914, when it was made a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

, it was the largest employer in the canton of Zug, with over 800 employees. In the 1920s, Landis & Gyr opened offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Australia and took over competitors to form a global technology group. From the 1930s, the company diversified with

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

and remote control products. After leadership struggles in the 1950s, a new management reorganized the financing and accounting and converted Landis & Gyr into a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

. The range was expanded to include service machines, air conditioning and ventilation products. Landis & Gyr increased its personnel, with 14,000 employees around 1970 (5,200 of them in Zug). From the mid-1970s and especially after 1984, the group was frequently

restructured Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. ...

. In 1987, Landis & Gyr was acquired by Stephan Schmidheiny, who sold it to Elektrowatt in 1995. It is today a part of Siemens Building Technologies. The company was also known for producing optical phone cards until 2006. Landis+Gyr phone cards were used in many countries such as

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, Switzerland and more.

Ownership and acquisitions

* 1976 – Landis+Gyr acquired Duncan Electric Company of Lafayette, Indiana. * 1987 – Landis+Gyr acquired MCC Powers of Chicago. MCC Powers had by then been a long established entity in the US building management market. Spurred by the

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

and

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

of global markets, Landis+Gyr re-oriented its business, adding electronic products. * Late 1990s – In the late 1990s, Landis+Gyr went through a series of different investors and owners, amongst them Elektrowatt, KKR and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

. * 2004 – Landis+Gyr was acquired by then Australia-based Bayard Capital for an undisclosed amount. Bayard Capital had already acquired the British metering company Ampy Automation-Digilog. As Bayard Capital continued to add other acquisitions to the group, 2008 saw the Landis+Gyr name being extended to the whole group in May 2008. An organizational realignment took place under Bayard Capital's ownership. The company moved to a regional structure, assigning regional corporate structures for North America; South America; UK/Pre-Payment; Europe; and Asia Pacific. * 2006 – Landis+Gyr acquired Finnish Enermet Group, and also Hunt Technologies and Cellnet Technologies, both of which are from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. * 2011 – Landis+Gyr was acquired by Toshiba Corporation of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for US$2.3 billion. * 2017 – On July 21, 2017, Landis+Gyr listed its shares (ticker symbol: LAND) on the

SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zürich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being BX Swiss). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other security (finance), securities such as Swiss government bonds and deriv ...

Utilities

Various

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

have worked with Landis+Gyr in meeting their consumers' demand for energy management tools by rolling out smart meters. Below are some of the utilities that have worked with Landis+Gyr in deploying smart metering technology to energy consumers. * Europe, Middle East & Africa:

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

;

Iberdrola Iberdrola, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain. It has around 40,000 employees and serves around 30 million customers. Subsidiary, Subsidiaries include ScottishPower (United Kingdom), Ava ...

; Électricité Réseau Distribution France (ERDF); E.ON; Järvi-Suomen Energia Oy;

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational corporation, multinational electrical power industry, power company owned by the List of government enterprises of Sweden, Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germa ...

;

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

; RWE. * Asia Pacific:

Energex Energex is an Australian-based and wholly Queensland Government-owned Electric utility, electricity company that distributes power to 1.5 million homes and businesses across the region of South East Queensland. The boundaries of the company’ ...

; Ergon Energy; Ausgrid; Essential Energy; Western Power; ESTA; Genesis Energy Limited;

Meralco The Manila Electric Company, also known as Meralco (, , stylized in uppercase), is an electric power distribution company in the Philippines. It is Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 3 ...

; China Light & Power; Singapore Power. * North America: Oncor Energy;

Pacific Gas and Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

;

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

; AEP Texas. * South America: Copel; AES Eletropaulo; Ampla – Enel/ENDESA Group;

Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

; CEMIG; National Electricity Administration, Paraguay (ANDE); Cooperativa Regional de Electricidad, Bolivia (CRE); EDESUR - Enel/ENDESA Group (Argentina); CODENSA – Enel/ENDESA Group (Colombia).

Criticism

* In 2016, Phil Mocek of '' MuckRock'' started investigating a project in which Landis+Gyr was involved. After Mocek received the requested information, Landis+Gyr followed up by filing a lawsuit demanding the documentation not be made public.

References

{{Authority control Swiss companies established in 1896 Manufacturing companies established in 1896 Electronics companies established in 1896 Manufacturing companies of Switzerland Electronics companies of Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Zug Toshiba Meter manufacturers 1976 mergers and acquisitions 1987 mergers and acquisitions 2004 mergers and acquisitions 2006 mergers and acquisitions 2011 mergers and acquisitions 2017 initial public offerings Companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies