Armitage Shanks

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Armitage Shanks is a porcelain sanitary-ware company. Its headquarters are in Stoke on Trent, United Kingdom. Its main product is toilets, but they also make bathroom fixtures and plumbing supplies.   

Armitage Shanks began as two separate companies. The first company was called Armitage Ware Limited, it was founded in 1817 by a Thomas Bond. He began the company in Pottery but soon started making toilets in the 1850's. The second Company established was called Shanks Holdings Limited, this was based in Barrhead near Glasgow, they started making toilets in 1878. The two companies joined in 1969 to make Armitage Shanks.

In 1980 Armitage Shanks was purchased by Blue Circle Industries, and in February 1999 Blue Circle sold its bathroom division (consisting of Armitage Shanks and the Italian Ceramica Dolomite) to U.S. based American Standard Companies for US$430 million. Following this purchase, the Armitage Shanks brand continued in the UK, and their former export markets. American Standard were acquired by Bain Capital in 2007 and is now majority-owned by Sun Capital Partners.