ICL Plc, at one time Britain’s premiere computer manufacturer is pretty much out of manufacturing altogether following the sale of its contract manufacturing business Design to Distribution Ltd to Toronto-based conglomerate Onex Corp for a lot less than $140m. Onex bought Design to Distribution as a present for its Celestica Inc contract manufacturing subsidiary. The UK business has 2,500 employees and several manufacturing facilities around the country; annual sales are running at $560m and assets are put at $180m. Onex would say only that it paid less than 25% of annual sales. Onex bought Toronto-based Celestica last year for $750m; the company was of course formerly IBM Canada Ltd’s manufacturing operations; Design to Distribution has a five-year supply pact with ICL.
