A historic Renfrewshire-based global engineering business is set to be sold in a move that creates uncertainty for hundreds of Scottish jobs.
It has emerged that executives are are looking to sell the Glasgow-found Howden Group which employs over 5000 staff in 15 countries - including over 350 at its main UK site in Renfrew which is home to its operational base and screw compressors plant.
The details emerged as Maryland-based industrial technology firm Colfax Corporation, which owns Howden, announced it was "evaluating strategic options for its air and gas handling business" after buying a medical-equipment manufacturer DJO Global for more than $3 billion.
A Colfax spokeswoman has now confirmed that involved "a potential sale" of the Howden business.
She added: "Howden is a profitable business, well-positioned for future growth. We believe it is a very attractive asset to potential acquirers that could partner with the business and help take it to the next level.
"The capabilities and experience of the extraordinary talent at Howden will undoubtedly be valuable to any potential acquirer. The Howden team’s priorities remain focused on serving customers and continuing to grow the business.”
Colfax's purchase in a bid to expand into the field of orthopedic devices, software and services was not embraced by some shareholders, according to analysts, and the company's share price dropped by 16.4% on Monday.
Howden, which has its roots in 1962, when James Howden & Co was established initially to manufacture marine engines and boilers, last year received £431,000 in public money for its Renfrew manufacturing plant as bosses announced plans for a £1.2 million investment package.
The funding was expected to help protect the 350-strong workforce with a small number of new jobs also being created.
Howden was said to have been investing the money to develop and expand its oil-free range of screw compressors, in a bid to create growth from a downturn in the global oil and gas market.
Fred Hearle, global product director for Howden Compressors, was predicting a bright future for the Renfrew site.
He said: “The Howden site in Renfrew is our manufacturing centre of excellence for screw compressors and I am proud of the recent investments into the facility as it will strengthen our business and create more opportunities for our people.”
Howden once had one of the last remaining Victorian heavy engineering works in Glasgow, and towards the end of its life, the redbrick complex at Scotland Street in Glasgow was the birthplace of the tunnel boring machines used to excavate the Channel Tunnel, which opened in 1994.
The Scotland Street site, which once employed 1700 people during the Second World War, has been vacant for over 30 years since Howdens transferred their operations.
The firm's success owed much to the inventiveness of founder James Howden, who registered a vast number of patents in many fields of engineering. The best known was the forced draught system, introduced in the 1880s, which used waste gases to heat the air in a boiler's combustion chamber and which was adopted by shipbuilders around the world.
By 1898 many famous ocean liners used Howden's engine system - including the Lusitania and Mauretania.
Howden's range of activities was extended in the early 20th century to high-speed engines and turbines for land use, chiefly for the supply of electrical power. When the First World War broke out, the Admiralty decided all ships should be fitted with Howden parts.
The company expanded to New York and is said to be the first firm to use a fax machine, sending drawings overseas by radiotelegraphy in the 1930s.
Colfax Corporation, a US manufacturing welding, air and gas handling equipment firm, bought Howden in 2012
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