New US owners insist Aga is here to stay after £129 million deal

Illinois-based Middleby Corp completed the purchase of Aga Rangemaster after the deal was agreed by key shareholders.

The manufacturer, which employs hundreds of people in Telford & Wrekin, has been snapped up in a move that bosses say protects pensions and will open up new markets for the well-known Shropshire brand.

Middleby moved to allay concerns over the future of Aga's UK manufacturing operations, saying it "recognises the importance of Aga's presence in the United Kingdom and intends to maintain Aga's manufacturing operations in the UK".

But the American food giant plans to carry out a strategic review of the business following completion of the deal, which is expected later this year.

It's a big name, and has an illustrious history which can be traced back hundreds of years to the birth of the industrial revolution.

As with many modern companies, Aga Rangemaster is an enterprise with complex DNA reflecting twists and turns over many years.

But it is also a firm which is proud of its heritage and has continued the spirit of innovation which drove those early pioneers.

Its iconic Aga and Rayburn products have been household names for generations and through the Coalbrookdale Works, it has a direct association with one of the major advances in human history.

It was there, in the Ironbridge Gorge – now celebrated as a World Heritage Site – that Abraham Darby perfected the art of melting cast iron using coke instead of charcoal. That key development in 1709 was to set in train a process which has created the modern industrialised world.

The Coalbrookdale Company became part of Allied Ironfounders in 1929, which was a grouping of various foundries across Britain – particularly in Scotland.

A new history book produced by Aga Rangemaster and based on minutes of its board meetings from yesteryear in its archives reveals a titanic 1930s battle that took place between Allied Ironfounders and the Swedish firm which produced Aga cookers.

When Allied brought out a direct rival to the Aga, called the Thermecon, Aga Heat – backed by Aga Sweden – sued for breach of patent.

The Allied board found a pragmatic solution. In 1935 they bought Aga Heat, on condition that the patent litigation was dropped.

In a later development, a new Aga works was built at Ketley in 1947.

In 1968 Allied Ironfounders was acquired by Glynwed, which decided to consolidate the Ketley and Coalbrookdale foundries into one at Coalbrookdale.

In January 2001 Glynwed agreed to sell its Pipe Systems operations to the Belgian group Etex for £786 million in cash.