Reynolds American Inc.

formerly R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc.

U.S.-based tobacco company. Its origins date to the establishment of Richard Joshua Reynolds's tobacco-plug factory in Winston, N.C., in 1875, producing plug tobacco (compressed cakes). The Reynolds Tobacco Co. became a major manufacturer of tobacco products, notably Camel, Winston, and Salem cigarettes. After embarking on a program of diversification in the 1960s, the firm adopted the name R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., in 1970 and purchased Nabisco Brands in 1985. The new company, named RJR Nabisco in 1986, was acquired in 1989 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) for $25 billion, the largest corporate transaction of its time. KKR divested its ownership in 1995. R.J. Reynolds returned to its primary business of tobacco marketing and merged with British-owned rival Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. in 2004 to create Reynolds American.

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