DAMPA_75_years_of_quiet_design_ENG - Flipbook - Page 114
Dæmpa A/S’s shortage of money worried Muus to such an
extent that he decided that the company should be sold to a
new owner. Having watched a television documentary about
F.L. Smidth’s work to develop better building products, he
contacted its managing director, Nils Foss, to discuss the
possibility of it taking over Dæmpa A/S. No doubt very anxious to secure the company’s future, Muus concluded the
sale very quickly in the summer of 1970 with F.L. Smidth officially becoming the new owner on 1 August. Harry Schrøder
later recalled that the price they paid was ‘astonishingly low
– so low that F.L. Smidth ’s accountants spent several days
visiting the ship [i.e. Dæmpa] to see if there were any bodies
in the cargo.’ What they actually found was a very well consolidated company which, apart from a short-term lack of
capital, had a very healthy turnover and few problems. F.L.
Smidth had, in fact, made an excellent acquisition and one
that would enjoy even greater success in the ensuing decade. (The former owner, Det Fyenske Trælastkompagni,
meanwhile fell into decline and was eventually wound up in
1982.) In 1970, Dæmpa’s British subsidiary, Dampa (UK)
Ltd, was expanded from being merely an agent selling Danish-made ceilings to having a small factory in which to make
ceilings for the British market. This occupied an industrial
unit at Berinsfield between Reading and Oxford.
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