James Hanson, 82; Briton Built Conglomerate Worth $28 Billion, Was a Margaret Thatcher Ally

James Hanson, who rose to prominence in 1980s Britain as an exponent of the hostile takeover and ally of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, died Monday at his home near Newbury, southern England, the Financial Times said. He was 82 and had cancer.

As chairman of Hanson PLC from 1965, he turned a fertilizer business into a global company worth $28 billion, with interests ranging from tobacco and chemicals to building materials and hot dogs.

Along with business partner Gordon White -- later Lord White -- Hanson led takeovers such as the $4.3-billion purchase of cigarette-maker Imperial Group that established him as a corporate symbol of Thatcher’s Britain.

“He built Hanson from virtually a standing start,” Christopher Collins, Hanson’s current chairman, said in a written statement. “He set the highest standards. Those who worked for him learned an enormous amount.”

Born in Huddersfield, northern England, on Jan. 20, 1922, Hanson joined the family transport business after World War II, moving to Canada in 1948 after Britain elected a Labor government that was pledged to the nationalization of key industries, according to his website.

Hanson’s profile was raised by a brief engagement to Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn, while he and White also made newspaper headlines through friendships with Jean Simmons, Joan Collins, Elizabeth Taylor and other celebrities.

It was after Hanson’s return to the United Kingdom in 1963 that he and White set about building a diversified company. Through Wiles Group, a fertilizer maker, they bought 24 businesses in 10 years with sales of more than $120 million.

Reacting to a perceived anti-business attitude in Britain, Hanson established a New York-based subsidiary in 1973, followed by purchases in animal feed, hot dogs, shoes and batteries. Hanson purchased U.S. Industries in 1984.

Hostile takeovers included SCM -- with brands such as Smith-Corona office equipment, Glidden Paints, Durkee’s Famous Foods and SCM Chemicals -- and Imperial Group, with tobacco, beer, food, hotel and restaurant businesses. U.S.-based Kaiser Cement followed in 1987. The company, which had traded as Hanson Trust since 1969, was renamed Hanson PLC the same year.

After White’s death in 1995, the sprawling business was split into four public companies: Millennium Chemicals Inc., Imperial Tobacco PLC, Energy Group PLC and Hanson PLC, which took with it the group’s building materials and equipment operations. James Hanson retired as chairman Dec. 31, 1997.

Hanson, whose bricks helped build the Channel Tunnel, went on to make acquisitions of its own, becoming the world’s biggest supplier of sand, gravel and other aggregates. The London-based company gets 40% of sales in the United States.

Hanson supported medical research through the Hanson-White Foundation. He created a chair at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and was named an honorary trustee of the university in 2002.

Hanson married Geraldine Kaelin in 1959. She died this year.

He is survived by two sons and a stepdaughter.