Deutsche Babcock

Deutsche Babcock AG (full name: Deutsche Babcock & Wilcox Dampfkessel Werke Aktien-Gesellschaft) was a German manufacturing company based in Oberhausen in the Ruhr District, the center of the German economy. The company was established in 1898 as a German subsidiary of the British boilermaking company Babcock & Wilcox, Limited. In the beginning of the 20th century and the interwar period Deutsche Babcock expanded its business across the German Empire and the countries of Eastern Europe and, to a lesser extent, Scandinavian countries. Financial success and military conflicts between Germany and the United Kingdom led to de facto independence of Deutsche Babcock from its British parent, although the British owned the controlling interest in Deutsche Babcock until 1975. After World War II Deutsche Babcock controlled the West German market for industrial steam boilers and nuclear power equipment. It diversified into oil and gas firing equipment, nuclear fuel, reprocessing components, air conditioning systems, refrigeration equipment, specialty steels and wire, copper pipes, cast-iron fittings, desulfurization systems, and water-treatment plants. In 1996 the company experienced a severe crisis and was reorganized into Babcock Borsig. In 2002 the second crisis forced disbandment of Babcock Borsig and sale of its industrial assets to independent buyers. At the time of the company's failure it had 13,000 employees in Germany and 9,000 in other countries. As of July 2010, Babcock Borsig still exists as a shell company.