ICI

One of the UK's largest companies, founded in 1926, engaged in the manufacture and research of products and processes including agrochemicals, polymers, and electronics. In 1993 ICI split off its agrochemical and pharmaceutical concerns into a new corporation called Zeneca. By becoming a leading specialty chemicals and paints producer, its strategy was to develop businesses with long-term growth potential. However, its subsequent financial performance was erratic and in January 2008 its takeover by Dutch company Akzo Nobel was completed.

ICI was founded by the amalgamation of four chemical companies, and originally operated five divisions: alkali products, metals, explosives, dyestuffs, and general chemicals. By the early 1990s it was Europe's largest manufacturer and exporter of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). ICI received its largest ever fine in the UK (£300,000) in March 1998, after 150 tonnes of toxic chloroform gushed out of a pipe at the ICI site at Runcorn, Cheshire, polluting groundwater for decades.