Amalgamated Power Engineering

Amalgamated Power Engineering (APE) was a British engineering holding company, created through the 1968 merger of W.H. Allen, Sons and Co and Belliss and Morcom. It was acquired in 1981 by Northern Engineering Industries

Amalgamated Power Engineering

Company type	Privately held company
Industry	Engineering
Predecessors	W. H. Allen, Sons & Company Ltd. and Belliss and Morcom
Founded	1968 (1968)
Defunct	1981 (1981)
Fate	Acquired
Successor	Northern Engineering Industries
Headquarters	Birmingham, West Midlands , United Kingdom
Area served	United Kingdom
Products	Engines, pumps, compressors, gas processing plant

History

The company was created in 1968 through the merger of W. H. Allen, Sons & Company Ltd. (which had absorbed William Foster & Co. in 1960) and Belliss and Morcom.^[1]

In 1966, the receiver of Crossley Brothers of Manchester,^[2] sold the Crossley-Premier Engines and Furnival and Co businesses to Belliss and Morcom (B&M) of Birmingham, West Midlands.^[1] In 1968 B&M agreed to a merger with W.H. Allen, Sons and Co of Bedford,^[3] to form Amalgamated Power Engineering (APE), 60% owned by Allen's shareholders (which included William Foster & Co.) and 40% by Belliss and Morcom; which instantly became a leading manufacturer of engines.^[4] In 1968, APE reached agreement with Cooper-Bessemer to allow C-B to sell APE's gas treatment plant worldwide. In 1969, APE's Allen Gwynnes Pumps subsidiary acquired the industrial pumps business of Vickers plc based in Barrow in Furness.

After a difficult period in the 1970s, when due to ongoing losses APE sold a number of subsidiaries, in 1981 APE was acquired by Northern Engineering Industries plc, based in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne.^[5] NEI shut most of the old central-Birmingham factories, consolidated the products around compressors, and moved B&M to Redditch.^[1] NEI itself was then acquired by Rolls-Royce plc in 1989.^[5]