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Heatrod Elements Reclaims Backer Name

After 87 years, Bolton based Heatrod Elements has reclaimed ownership of the original Backer name, bringing it in line with the many companies around the world that sit within the wider NIBE Element Group. The company has now been re-branded as Backer Heatrod, following the acquisition of Christian Backer’s original Rotherham based business, where the production of patented electrical element design that is still used throughout the world was established in 1938.

 

 

Christian Backer co-founded Backer Elektro-Värme AB together with Nils Bernerup (NIBE) in 1949 and grew the Backer name throughout the world. His original Rotherham business was purchased by an external buyer, meaning that Heatrod Elements, the Group’s only UK arm of the business, were unable to use the founder’s name.

Heatrod Elements completed the purchase of the original Backer Electric business in December 2023 and following an extended period of planning, can now announce its re-brand. The purchase allows the Swedish owned company to once again use the Backer name in the UK, where the manufacture of heating elements originally began.

Backer Heatrod Team

 

 

Says Simon Ellam, Managing Director of the newly named Backer Heatrod: “As Heatrod Elements we have grown the business both organically and through acquisitions over the past 19 years, but this one is particularly special.

“Whilst the acquisition was made 15 months ago there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get to the stage where we can successfully rebrand the company and launch to our customers as Backer Heatrod. It is a significant and historical move for our company which I’m sure will be well received by customers and the wider industry.”

Adds Christer Fredriksson, Business Area Manager of NIBE Element Group: “Although the Backer group of companies grew from our Sösdala base in Sweden, much of the founding technology and design of our core products began in the UK with Christian Backer’s extensive expertise, but due to circumstances out of our control, our UK company has been unable to use his name. This purchase feels like it completes a story and brings the history or our wider company full circle.”

Whilst the re-brand provides a new name for the former Heatrod Elements, it does not impact on any other area of the business, Backer Heatrod will continue to deliver the same high quality products and levels of service and production it has always done, but with a name that reflects the true history of the heating element.

The original Backer Electric continues to operate as a subsidiary of Backer Heatrod in the UK, based out of a new facility in Dinnington and focussing on the domestic heating market.