Axel Johnson history

Again neutral in World War II, Sweden tried to protect itself from isolation, and as early as December 1939 it reached a war trade agreement with Great Britain.

The present chairman of the newly-named Axel Johnson Group is Antonia Johnson; born in 1943, she is the daughter of Axel Johnson III. Axel Johnson & Co.

Following the disruption of World War II, the decision was made in Stockholm to expand the New York office’s activities beyond trading, and, in 1946, Axel Ax:son Johnson sent his son to New York to oversee the building of the United States company.

Axel Ax:son Johnson Jr. became chairman of A. Johnson & Co., Inc. in 1951 and took over the leadership of the entire group when his father died seven years later.

BIRD-JOHNSON AND PARKSON — A. Johnson & Co., Inc. formed the Bird-Johnson Company in 1958 to build KaMeWa propellers in the United States under license from KMW, a group company in Sweden.

Bird-Johnson signed its first contract with the United States Navy in 1966 and went on to become the premier supplier of controllable and fixed-pitch propellers for all classes of Navy vessels.

Parkson Corporation was acquired from the Parker Pen Company in 1967 and, within a few years, had its first big success with the Lamella Gravity Settler, another product licensed from the Johnson Group.

SPRAGUE AND AXEL JOHNSON METALS — On Christmas day in 1971, negotiations were concluded to buy C.H. Sprague & Son from Shell Oil.

The financial crisis of 1974 and the subsequent economic uncertainties following in the wake of numerous OPEC decisions, as well as the now-entrenched difficulties of heavy industrial operations, were causes for alarm; Johnson suffered some serious setbacks.

In 1977, A. Johnson & Co., Inc. established the Industrial Metals Division to process titanium scrap, trade in various metals and distribute welding products.

The division evolved into Axel Johnson Metals Inc., built a state-of-the-art electron beam furnace and, in 1983, produced the first commercial titanium cast slab ever made in the United States.

The company was sold in 1988 to Ulstine Maritime, Inc., one of the world’s largest suppliers of equipment for ship propulsion and maneuvering.

By the time the company celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1995, the flow of products and technologies was going both ways within the group, and innovation was more than ever the driving force.

Axel Johnson Metals was sold in 1996 to Titanium Metal Corporation, a former joint venture partner and primary player in the industry.

A NEW PHASE OF GROWTH — In 2000, Spirent Plc of London, global telecom network technology company, acquired control of Hekimian in a transaction valued at $1.6 billion.

ADS was sold in 2005 to Nova Analytics Corporation, a worldwide supplier and integrator of analytical instrument products.

Also in 2008, Axel Johnson Inc. reestablished its headquarters in a century-old building in New York City.