APW International history

1925: Company changes its name to Blackhawk.

In 1955 Blackhawk sold off its original line of hand tools, as its business evolved away from that area into more complicated systems.

Also in 1960, Blackhawk began an effort to expand its markets beyond the borders of the United States.

1961: Company changes its name to Applied Power Industries, Inc.

In 1969 the company acquired the Big Four division of the Studebacker Company.

In 1975 the company sold Hydralique Gury S.A. to a group of French investors for $2.1 million.

By 1985, Applied Power's 75th year in business, the company had become a solid operation closely held by the members of its founding family.

1987: Company goes public through an IPO, with a listing on the NASDAQ.

In 1988 Applied Power returned to its roots, reentering the field that had launched the company decades before, when it purchased a manufacturer of hand tools, Garner-Bender, Inc., for $31.4 million.

These developments followed a year of lackluster results in 1991, when earnings fell to $12 million, hurt by the overall high costs of absorbing the Barry Wright operations and by a general recession.

1995: Revenues surpass $500 million for the first time.

Applied Power next acquired VERO Group plc in June 1998 for $191.7 million (fending off a competing bid by Pentair, Inc.) and ZERO Corporation the following month in a merger valued at $386 million.