| Type | Public (SIX: OERL) |
|---|---|
| Industry | industrial engineering and manufacturing |
| Founded | 1973 as Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG |
| Headquarters | Pfäffikon, Schwyz, Switzerland |
| Key people | Tim Summers, Chairman of the Board of Directors Michael Buscher, CEO |
| Products | surface technologies |
| Employees | 16657 (2010) |
| Website | www.oerlikon.com |
OC Oerlikon (former Unaxis) is a Swiss Technology Conglomerate with a wide range of divisions and products.
The different activities are organized as sub-companies: Balzers for coating services, Leybold for vacuum solutions, Oerlikon Solar for solar technology and Oerlikon Textile for textile technology.
The roots of today's OC Oerlikon are to be found in the Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon, which was founded in 1906, and later evolved into the Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG in 1973. After a restructuring process and the sale of some core assets, the holding changed its name to Unaxis.
The Austrian Victory Industriebeteiligung AG bought a majority of Unaxis stock in 2005 in a highly emotional battle and initiated a restructuring effort.
In May 2006, the company decided to rename itself into OC Oerlikon, a reference to its roots. The "OC" in the name stands for "One Company".[1]
Following the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009, the company went trough an operational restructuring involving layoffs and major changes in the management team. A proposal for a recapitalization was met with approval at the Annual General Meeting on May 18, 2010. The recapitalization reduced the Group's debt by CHF 998 million and brought the company CHF 276 million in new liquidity.