Lear Siegler

Lear Siegler Incorporated was created as a result of the 1961 merger between the Siegler Corporation (Los Angeles) and Lear Avionics Inc. (Santa Monica). John G. Brooks was the founder, President and Chairman of Siegler and William Lear was the founder; President and Chairman at Lear. The merger was based on Brooks' plan of acquiring and growing successful but possibly unrelated operating companies (with resources and management in common) into one of the first conglomerates (with a focus on aerospace, defense and consumer markets) and Lear’s goal of divesting his ownership interest in Lear to pursue development of his Learjet corporate aircraft (the first pure jet private aircraft)as well as other engineering innovations.

During the late 1950s, and throughout the 1960s and 1970s, America (and Southern California in particular) was experiencing an unprecedented boom in aviation technology and aerospace research and development, based on a "space race" inaugurated by the launch of Sputnik, a simple but startling first in a long history of scientific and technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Lear Siegler Incorporated does not produce the fancy, executive jets that bear the “Lear” name. Rather, the company’s products range from car seats and brakes to weapons control gear for military fighter planes. By this time, Its more than $2 billion-a-year annual sales comes from three major areas: aerospace-technology, automotive parts, and industrial-commercial. The company, however, is basically anonymous since its products are either unmarked or bear only the label “LSI.” But Lear Siegler, which went private in 1987, is an influential part of the manufacturing industry in the United States.

Over the next decade and a half Brooks, who became Siegler’s first president, established a reputation for supervising numerous startling acquisitions. In June 1955, seven months after the consolidation of the precursor Siegler Corporation business entities and relocation of corporate headquarters to a downtown Los Angeles address. Hallamore Manufacturing Company, an electronics firm, became Siegler’s first acquisition. During the 1960s, the company expanded rapidly. In 1962 Siegler merged with Lear Inc, an aerospace electronics firm, and changed its name to Lear Siegler Incorporated. The deal, which cost Siegler five shares for each seven Lear shares, nearly doubled the company’s sales - from $96.2 million in 1961 to $190.8 million by the end of 1962. In 1965 LSI (the “short” form of the company’s name) acquired all assets of Hypro Engineering Inc (operated as the Hypro Division) in exchange for more than 120,000 common shares. In 1966 it purchased American Metal Products Corporation, an automobile seating and furniture parts manufacturer, and Home Furnace Company (which operated as a division of the company). In 1968 LSI purchased National Broach & Machine, a gear machine manufacturer.

...
Wikipedia