North American Company
{{Short description|Former public utility holding company}}
{{About|the utility holding company broken up by the SEC in 1946|other entities similarly named|North American (disambiguation)}}
Image:North American Company 1892.jpg
Image:Oregon and Transcontinental stock.JPG]]
The North American Company was a holding company incorporated in New Jersey on June 14, 1890, and controlled by Henry Villard, to succeed to the assets and property of the Oregon and Transcontinental Company.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B02E5DA143AEF33A25750C2A9679D94689FD7CF|title=Talk of a new company; The report on Oregon and Transcontinental. The present charter declared not adapted to the corporation's successful development| work=The New York Times|date=November 23, 1889|page=3|access-date=2008-10-24}}{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9904E2D61539E033A25755C1A9609C94619ED7CF|title=Under a Brand-New Name; But It Is The Oregon And Transcontinental Company. The Very Extensive Powers Given To The North American Company By Its New-Jersey Charter.|date=June 16, 1890 |work=The New York Times|page=5|access-date=2008-10-24}} It owned public utilities and public transport companies and was broken up in 1946, largely to comply with the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935.
History
In 1889, the New Jersey legislature passed legislation to facilitate the control of other companies by another corporation.{{cite journal |last=Yablon |first=Charles M. |title=The Historical Race Competition for Corporate Charters and the Rise and Decline of New Jersey: 1880-1910 |journal=Iowa Journal of Corporation Law |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=339–340 |publisher=University of Iowa |year=2007 |url=http://blogs.law.uiowa.edu/jcl/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/3-Yablon.pdf |access-date=July 17, 2012}} This was part of a bid to entice trusts to convert into holding companies and move to New Jersey. It persuaded the Oregon company Oregon and Transcontinental to re-incorporate as a holding company in New Jersey and became the North American Company.
When the Dow Jones Industrial Average was created on May 26, 1896, North American's stock was one of the 12 component stocks,[http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/index.cfm?event=showavgDecades&decade=1895 What happened to the original 12 companies in the DJIA?, djindixes.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919000303/http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/index.cfm?event=showavgDecades&decade=1895|date=2008-09-19}} but it was replaced on August 26 by U.S. Cordage. On October 1, 1928, when the number of stocks comprising the DJIA was increased to 30, North American was re-added to the list but was replaced by Johns-Manville in 1930.
By 1940, North American was a US$2.3 billion holding company that directly and indirectly ran 80 companies.
It had 10 major direct subsidiaries, in eight of which it owned at least 79%. The 10 included:
- Three major holding companies:{{cite court |litigants=North American Co. v. Securities and Exchange Commission |vol=327 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=686 |year=1946 |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=us/327/686.html}} FindLaw.com
- Union Electric Company of St. Louis, MissouriStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly {{nyse2|UEP}}, now part of Ameren Corp. {{nyse2|AEE}}Globe-Democrat, Feb 5, 1905, p 9
- Washington Railway and Electric Company
- North American Light and Power Company
- Four operating companies:
- Cleveland Electric Illuminating CompanyStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly {{nyse2|CVX}}, then merged with Toledo Edison (formerly {{nyse2|TED}}) to form holding company Centerior Energy (formerly {{nyse2|CX}}), then merged with Ohio Edison Company (formerly {{nyse2|OEC}}) to form holding company FirstEnergy Corporation {{nyse2|FE}}
- Pacific Gas and ElectricStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, {{nyse2|PCG}}
- Detroit Edison CompanyStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly {{nyse2|DTE}}, then moved to holding company DTE Energy, same ticker
- Wisconsin Electric Power CompanyStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly {{nyse2|WPC}}, then moved to holding company Wisconsin Energy Corp. (formerly {{nyse2|WEC}}), then merged with Northern States Power (formerly {{nyse2|NSP}}) to form holding company Primergy Corp.[http://www.wisconsinenergy.com/aboutus/history.htm Wisconsin Energy Corporation, History], wisconsinenergy.com
- And three others:
- North American Utility Securities Corporation
- West Kentucky Coal Company
- 60 Broadway Building Corporation
At various times during its existence, North American also owned substantial interests in these other companies as well:
- The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company: Formed in 1896 as a subsidiary of the North American Company. By 1929, it operated within North American Company along with Wisconsin Electric Power Company, which became the consolidated name of the two operating companies in 1938. It now belongs to Wisconsin Energy Corporation ({{nyse2|WEC}})
- Capital Transit: Formed on December 1, 1933, in Washington, D.C., from the merger of the Washington Railway and Electric Company and Capital Traction streetcar companies and the Washington Rapid Transit bus company. North American owned it through its WRECo holding company subsidiary, which in turn was the holding company for the merged lines, owning 50% of Capital Transit.{{cite journal
| last = March
| first = Charles E.
| title = The Local Transportation Problem in the District of Columbia
| journal = The Journal of Land and Public Utilities Economics
| volume = 10
| issue = 3
| pages = 275–290
| publisher = University of Wisconsin Press
|date=August 1934
| doi = 10.2307/3139173
| jstor = 3139173 }}
Image:North American Edison logo.png
- Potomac Electric Power CompanyStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, now a unit of Pepco Holdings {{nyse2|POM}})
- Cincinnati Gas & Electric CompanyStandard & Poor's Stock Guide, {{nyse2|CIN}}, then moved to holding company Cinergy Corp., same ticker
- Union Light, Heat and Power of Covington, Kentucky
- Northern Natural Gas Company
- Butte Electric and Power Company
- Laclede Gas Company[http://www.lacledegas.com/ Laclede Gas Company], 1857-2007; Standard & Poor's Stock Guide, ({{nyse2|LG}}) became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Laclede Group, Inc., same ticker. Along with North American, the Laclede Gas Light Company was also one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Industrial Average.Globe-Democrat, Feb 5, 1905, p 9
- Edison Securities Corporation
- Wired Radio, Inc. (Muzak)
- North American Edison Company
- St. Louis United Railways CompanyGlobe-Democrat, Feb 5, 1905, p 9
= Breakup =
The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 passed with the intent of breaking up interstate electric holding companies by limiting company operations to a single state, thus subjecting them to effective state regulation. The North American Company fought the legislation in court, and the company was not broken up by the Securities and Exchange Commission until their loss before the Supreme court in North American Co. v. SEC on April 1, 1946.
See also
- John I. Beggs (former director)
- Clement Studebaker Jr. (chairman of North American Light and Power Co)
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=299&invol=248 Landis v. North American Co.]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Holding companies of the United States
Category:Defunct companies based in New Jersey
Category:American companies established in 1890
Category:Financial services companies established in 1890
Category:Financial services companies disestablished in 1946
Category:1890 establishments in New Jersey
Category:1946 disestablishments in New Jersey
Category:Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average