Oglebay Norton Corporation

History

• 1854: H.B. Tuttle & Co., predecessor to Oglebay Norton, created as a two-partner iron ore agency.
• 1855: John D. Rockefeller hired at $3.50 a week. Quits later over salary dispute.
• 1884: New partnership formed when Wheeling, W.Va., industrialist Earl W. Oglebay joins firm.
• 1890: Cleveland banker David Z. Norton joins; Oglebay, Norton & Co. formed.
• 1890: Company starts to manage Rockefeller's ore properties on the Mesabi Range in Minnesota.
• 1921: Company assembles its first Great Lakes shipping fleet with 11 freighters, which became the Columbia Steamship Co.
• 1930s: Company began to manage four docks along the Great Lakes.
• 1931: Columbia Steamship Co. renamed the Columbia Transportation Co.
• 1939: Company initiated a study of low-grade minerals and established the Reserve Mining Co. to develop taconite.
• 1957: Company adopted the name Oglebay Norton Company and began trading publicly.
• 1960s: Company established taconite mine in Eveleth, MN.
• 1975: Oglebay-owned ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald, sinks in Lake Superior.
• February 1998: John Lauer takes over as CEO; stock is around $40; company has $52 million in debt. He completes half-dozen acquisitions in first 18 months, pushing company into limestone business.
• June 1998: Debt rises to more than $300 million.
• April 1998: Stock reaches all-time high, $50.50.
• 2000: Company buys Michigan Limestone Operations and Jebco Abrasives; MLO executive Michael Lundin begins rise at Oglebay.
• October 2001: Company stopped paying dividends to shareholders.
• November 2001: Lundin named president.
• 2002: Recession and weak construction market pummel stock to $3. Debt rises to more than $400 million. Lundin becomes CEO.
• January 2004: Company misses bond interest payment.
• February 2004: Oglebay files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Week later, stock falls to less than $1, delisted from Nasdaq stock exchange.
• November 2004: Bankruptcy court approves reorganization plan.
• January 2005: Company exits bankruptcy after reorganizing finances and reducing debt to $275 million.
• August 2006: Last three freighters sold to another Great Lakes shipper; Oglebay to concentrate on limestone and lime.
• July 2007: Harbinger Capital Partners launches $31-a-share hostile takeover. Oglebay adopts anti-takeover plan.
• September 2007: Oglebay says it has multiple proposals to buy the company for more than Harbinger's bid.
• October 2007: Subsidiary of Belgian-based Carmeuse Group, global producer of lime, agrees to buy Oglebay for $36 a share, or $520 million.
• November 2007: Oglebay shareholders approve merger with Carmeuse.
• Feb. 8, 2008: Announcement that has antitrust approval to buy Oglebay.