North American Light and Power Company

North American Light and Power Company emerged in the period when American electric utilities were increasingly organized through holding companies. It was formed in South Bend, Indiana, in 1916 and was led by Clement Studebaker, Jr., whose family was prominent in the region's carriage and automobile industries. Studebaker, Jr. had participated in the development of the Studebaker Corporation after the Studebaker brothers joined with the Everitt-Metzger-Flanders Company in 1911. His business interests extended across manufacturing, electric utilities, traction, rail transportation, and other South Bend enterprises. The newly formed company issued publicly traded stock, and its certificates were produced by the American Banknote Company. Its business was associated with electric power and lighting, but the company's historical importance lies especially in its role as a utility holding company. Rather than being remembered primarily for a single local retail brand, it functioned within a wider network of utility and infrastructure interests. North American Light and Power became part of North American Company's corporate system and remained a significant subsidiary for roughly the decade following Studebaker, Jr.'s death in 1932. North American Company was one of the major American utility holding organizations of its era. It controlled numerous companies through a layered structure and, by 1940, was described as having approximately 80 companies, ten major direct subsidiaries, and ownership of at least 79 percent in eight of those direct subsidiaries. North American Light and Power was identified as one of three major holding-company subsidiaries in that structure. This model of corporate organization eventually attracted extensive federal scrutiny. The Public Utility Holding Company Act era brought pressure to simplify large utility pyramids and reduce the ability of a central holding company to control geographically dispersed utility operations through multiple layers of ownership. North American Company was ultimately broken up by the Securities and Exchange Commission after a United States Supreme Court decision on April 1, 1946. The dissolution of the parent structure marked the major institutional turning point in North American Light and Power's documented history. The available historical record does not clearly specify whether every activity of North American Light and Power was transferred to named successors, merged into other utilities, or formally dissolved at a particular date. It therefore cannot safely be assigned a definitive final status from the available material. Its documented identity is that of an early twentieth-century American electric utility holding company whose corporate life was closely tied to North American Company's rise and regulatory dismantling.

• 1946

  North American Company is broken up

  [1]North American Light and Power Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Following Securities and Exchange Commission action and a United States Supreme Court decision on April 1, the North American Company holding structure was dismantled.

• 1940

  North American Company reaches peak scale

  [1]North American Light and Power Companyen.wikipedia.org

  North American Company was described as controlling a pyramid of approximately 80 companies and ten major direct subsidiaries. North American Light and Power was one of three major holding-company subsidiaries.

• 1932

  Death of Clement Studebaker, Jr.

  [1]North American Light and Power Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Studebaker, Jr., who had served as the company's leading executive, died. North American Light and Power continued as a major subsidiary within North American Company's holding-company system.

• 1916

  North American Light and Power is formed

  [1]North American Light and Power Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Clement Studebaker, Jr. formed the company in South Bend and issued publicly traded stock. The stock certificates were printed by the American Banknote Company.

• 1911

  Studebaker interests join with E-M-F

  [1]North American Light and Power Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The Studebaker brothers joined forces with the Everitt-Metzger-Flanders Company to form the Studebaker Corporation, part of the industrial background of Clement Studebaker, Jr., who later led North American Light and Power.

Historic American electric utility holding company serving the infrastructure and corporate-consolidation needs of the early twentieth-century power and lighting industry.

• Utility service

  Electric power

  Electric power was the company's principal industry association. North American Light and Power operated as a holding company within the early American utility sector, participating in the ownership and organization of power-related businesses rather than presenting a modern nationally standardized retail product line.

• Utility service

  Electric lighting

  Electric lighting formed part of the utility services represented by the company's name and historical business context. The available record does not identify a distinct lighting product range or a specific consumer-facing service territory.

• Infrastructure investment

  Utility holding-company investments

  The company's strategic role was the holding and organization of utility interests within the North American Company group. This corporate function connected it to the broader consolidation of electric power and related infrastructure businesses in the United States.

• 1946

  Regulatory dismantling of the North American Company holding structureOther

  Background

  North American Light and Power was a major subsidiary in a large utility holding-company pyramid. Federal scrutiny sought to reduce the complexity and concentration associated with such structures.

  Action taken

  The Securities and Exchange Commission pursued the breakup of North American Company, following a United States Supreme Court decision dated April 1, 1946.

  Aftermath

  The parent conglomerate was dismantled. The available reference does not identify the precise successor arrangements or final legal status of North American Light and Power.

  North American Company assets. US$2.3 billion (1940; no post-breakup figure available)

  Source

1. 1North American Light and Power Companyen.wikipedia.org