Lear Siegler, Inc. - Specimen Stock

Specimen Stock printed by Jeffries Banknote Company.

Lear Siegler 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. 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. The company was incorporated in December 1950 as Siegler Heating Company. Originally a maker of climate control equipment, the company changed its name to Siegler Corporation after merging with Siegler Enamel Range Company Inc. in 1954. In that year, John G. Brooks, a flamboyant entrepreneur, and nine other associates bought the Siegler Corporation of Centralia, Illinois, for $3.3 million - $3.2 million of this money was borrowed for 24 hours at a cost of $60,000. 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 merger, Hallamore Manufacturing Company, an electronics firm, became Siegler’s first acquisition. During the 1960’s, 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. Read more at https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/lear-siegler-inc