BATUS Inc. is a former United States subsidiary of British American Tobacco, now the world's second largest cigarette manufacturer. BATUS served as the U.S. holding company for BAT. In 1960s, the company followed the conglomerate fad, diversifying into areas such as insurance, drink and the apparently booming world of retail. Through its BATUS unit, British American Tobacco diversified its tobacco holdings with acquisitions in the retail sector, paper sector, and insurance. BATUS was created by British American Tobacco to oversee the US holdings. Management for BATUS was initially derived from Brown and Williamson Tobacco with B&W's CEO and Chairman of the Board, Joseph E. Edens initially leading BATUS, followed by Charlie McCarty and Hank Frigon, the first non B&W or BAT executive to lead the company. Throughout the early 1970s to mid-1980s, Brown and Williamson and then BATUS acquired Saks Fifth Avenue, Frederick and Nelson, Marshall Fields, Ivey's, Bruener's Furniture and Home Furnishings, Kohl Food and Department Stores, Gimbel Brothers. The retail operations proved complex and were not competing well in their markets. Several early acquisitions, like Gimbels, acquired with Saks Fifth Avenue, were sold for poor performance, while others, like Kohl, were spun off to their management group. To manage the large retail holdings, BAT and BATUS created BATUS Retail Group in the early to mid 80s (who went on to expand the current store presence of existing businesses and developed a ready-to-wear specialty business Thimbles. In 1989, BAT became a target of a takeover by Sir James Goldsmith. In an effort to fend off the takeover, BAT divested much of its US operations to raise capital and focus the business. BRG and BATUS was shut down and some remaining administrative operations were consolidated back to Brown and Williamson Tobacco. While the company was not responsible to produce an annual report since they were a subsidiary of British American Tobacco based in London, they did produce the report to assist with financing and investments in the States. One of BATUS' primary responsibilities was the management of funding and cash from US operations.
Frederick & Nelson of Seattle, Washington ' In 1982, BATUS purchased Marshall Field's, owners of Frederick & Nelson. BATUS sold Frederick & Nelson with The Crescent in 1986.
Gimbels of New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee' Brown and Williamson purchased Gimbels in 1973. BATUS closed the division in 1986. Some stores were taken over by sister division Marshall Field's, which became Macy's in 2006.
Saks Fifth Avenue of New York City, New York Brown and Williamson acquired Saks Fifth Avenue in 1973 with its acquisition of Gimbels. In 1990, BATUS sold Saks to Investcorp S.A., which later sold Saks to Proffitt's, Inc.; that firm in turn changed its name to Saks Incorporated.
