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Toolex Alpha

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Full name Toolex Alpha AB. Swedish pressing plant and manufacturer/exporter of presses and machinery for producing vinyl records and in later years for CDs & DVDs. [b]Key years for pressings:[/b] Vinyl was pressed under the Toolex Alpha name 1973-1986 (sometimes abbreviated Toolex on the sleeve). Records pressed at Toolex Alpha can sometimes be recognized by the etching "Tα" in the runout (often mistakenly interpreted as "TX", "To", "Tw", "Ty", "TIX", "Ta" or "T∝"). Company also did lacquer cutting. Known lacquer cutters: BA – [a379613] Pd – [a378004] CDs were duplicated under the Toolex Alpha name from 1985-1988 (later releases might be residual stock that was made in 1988?) [b]Company history:[/b] It's predecessor was called Toolex Håma AB, active ca 1962-1972. Sometime between late 1967- early 1969 Toolex Håma AB bought the pressing machinery part of the business from AB Alpha. Note that the record manufacturing part was not part of this deal (it was sold in 1967 to a different company, Ulvsunda Gummifabrik (later Ulvex AB)). 1973-03-08 Toolex Alpha appears as a company name for the first time (presumably renamed from Toolex Håma AB) Turn of the year 1977-78 - Toolex Alpha buys Ulvex AB and now has both vinyl/cassette production and manufacturing of pressing machines under the same company. At this time, Toolex Alpha was owned by Berema, subsidiary of Atlas Copco. 1985 Launches first CD duplication machine (presumably they start producing their own CDs at the same time) 1986 the vinyl production was sold to [l186210] in Spånga. The turn of the year 1987-88 - Laid off its staff related to CD duplication and discontinued the production of CDs in order not to compete with its customers. May 3, 1988 Toolex Alpha AB sold to Grimaldigruppen AB for 1 SEK. 1990 The last vinyl press delivered from Toolex Alpha to [l15486], but probably manufactured a few years earlier. 1991 Launches a duplication machine for CD-ROM 1994 Grimaldi Industri AB sells 70% of the shares in Toolex Alpha AB to the company's staff and external investors such as NatWest Ventures Investments Ltd, Citicorp Capital Investors Europe Ltd and CVC Capital Partners Europe Ltd. The Grimaldi group retained a minority stake, initially 30%. 1996 Launches a duplication machine for DVD 1996 Toolex Alpha AB listed on NASDAQ and the Amsterdam stock exchange. Grimaldi Industri AB reduces ownership of Toolex Alpha to 10% of the shares. July - October 1997 Toolex Alpha AB took over ODME. A parent company, Toolex International NV, was created, headquarters moved to the former ODME's Veldhoven offices. February 1998 - Toolex International buys the Laser Optics Division (LOD) of Del Mar Avionics, of Irvine, California. Also buys Hong Kong distributor, Special Zone Limited. Subsidiaries at this time include: Toolex Alpha AB (Sweden); ODME International BV (Netherlands); Apex Systems Inc. (USA); Toolex, Inc. (USA); Media Morphics BV (Netherlands); ContTec GmbH (Germany); ODME Consumables (BV). 10 September 2001 Toolex Alpha AB was declared bankrupt. The parent company has also been forced to file for bankruptcy. OCT 12, 2001 From the bankruptcy estate, the company Alpha Sweden AB was formed. It's parent company, Vencap Industrier (in turn a subsidiary of Grimaldi Industrier) owns 100 percent. 09 May 2006 Alpha Sweden in bankruptcy 2006-July-04 Pheenix Alpha AB founded. Niklas Poblenz and Per Sundberg bought hardware and intellectual property from the bankruptcy estate and the exclusive right to sell spare parts.