| Industry | Gas |
|---|---|
| Fate | Broke up into Calor Gas and Contibel |
| Successor | Calor Group Tractebel |
| Founded | 1824 |
| Defunct | 1987 |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Imperial Continental Gas Association plc was a leading British gas utility operating in various cities in Continental Europe . It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Company was formed by Sir Moses Montefiore[1] and some of his colleagues based in London in 1824 as the Imperial Continental Gas Association to establish gas utilities in other counties.[2] It commenced operations distributing gas in Hannover in 1825 and providing gas lighting in Berlin in 1826.[3] During the course of the 19th century it established gas works in Antwerp, Brussels, Berlin and Vienna.[4] Its offices in Vienna, opened in 1873, were at the Palais Epstein.[5] Four huge gasometers in Vienna, completed in 1899, remain a monument to the Company.[6]
The noted philanthropist Goodwin Newton of Barrells Hall, and Glencripesdale Estate was Director and Chairman for a long period in the late nineteenth century.
It established the Westergasfabriek gas works in Amsterdam in 1883.[7]
In 1928 it established Distrigas, the main gas distributor in Belgium, which is now owned by Eni.[8] During World War I its operations in Berlin were nationalised by the German Government.[9]
In 1969 the Company acquired all the shares in Calor Group that it did not already own.[10]
In 1986 it rejected a bid from Gulf Resources & Chemical Corporation, a company controlled by the Barclay brothers.[11] Instead in 1987 it broke itself up into Calor Group (now owned by SHV) and Contibel (now owned by Tractebel).[12]