The company was founded by
John Laird in 1824 as
Birkenhead Ironworks in
Birkenhead,
Wirral. In 1903 it merged with
Charles Cammell & Company Limited and, as
Cammell Laird, went on to build numerous
ships for the
Royal Navy. In 1977 its
shipbuilding business was
nationalised and in 1989 it disposed of its
mass transit railway activities. In the 1980s it moved into
security products and in the 1990s into
electronics. In 2000 it disposed of its
automotive industry activities and more recently, in 2007, it disposed of its
security business to
Lupus Capital. In 2008 it changed its name from
Laird Group PLC to
Laird PLC. The company subsequently expanded in electronics with acquisitions such as Wisconsin based LS Research in November 2015 and German based Novero in December 2015. In March 2018
Advent International made an offer for the company valuing at £1 billion. The transaction was completed in July 2018. Advent subsequently broke Laird up, selling Laird Connected Vehicles to
Molex Electronic Technologies in September 2018, Laird Thermal Systems to Bregal Unternehmerk in July 2021, Laird Performance Materials to
DuPont also in July 2021, and Laird Antennas to
TE Connectivity in November 2021. ==Operations==