EuroWire January 2018

Cable giants in $3 billion merger deal

In just a few short months, the wire and cable industry will seemingly encamp itself at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany, for wire 2018. Interest in the week-long show always remains high, with stand allocation and visitor interest already peaking. You can catch up on the latest list of exhibitors by turning to page 56 in this issue of EuroWire . This show also follows on from the latest staging of wire South America, held towards the end of 2017, which took place at a time when host country Brazil was emerging from recession, and also recorded a record high in the number of visitors to São Paulo. You can nd the details on page 10.

However, the biggest news at the start to the year is that of Prysmian’s purchase of General Cable in a deal worth $30 a share, valuing the American company at some $3 billion. The boards of these two industrial heavyweights have unanimously agreed to the deal and entered into a merger agreement that is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018. The new combined group will have a presence inmore than 50 countries and employ some 31,000 people. Based on pro-forma aggregated results for the 12 months ended 30 th September 2017, the combined group would have had sales of over €11 billion. For more details of the merger, see page 9.

David Bell Editor

Publishing Team

Editor:

................................................................................................................................David Bell

Features Editor (USA):

.....................................................................................................................Dorothy Fabian

Editorial assistant:

..................................................................................................................Christian Bradley

Design/Production:

............................................................................................................................Julie Tomlin

Production:

..............................................................................................................................Lisa Wright

Sales & Marketing: UK & ROW sales.............................................................................................Jason Smith (International) Italian speaking sales...................................................................Giuliana Benedetto Chinese speaking sales ............................................................................................Linda Li Advertisement Coordinator: ..............................................................................................................................Liz Hughes Accounts Manager: ................................................................................................................................ Julie Case Subscriptions: ................................................................................................................................Julie Case Publisher: ....................................................................................................................Caroline Sullens Founder: ..........................................................................................................................John C Hogg

* US$33 purchase only Front cover: Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co KG See page 104 for further details US copies only : EuroWire (ISSN 1463-2483, USPS No: 022-738) is published six times a year, January, March, May, July, September and November by Intras Ltd and distributed in the USA by UKP Worldwide, 3390 Rand Road, South Plain eld, NJ 07080. Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ and at additional mailing o ces. POSTMASTER : Send address changes to EuroWire, Intras Ltd, C/O 3390 Rand Road, South Plain eld NJ 07080. www.read-eurowire.com © 2018 Intras Ltd, UK ISSN 1463-2438

Intras Offices

USA :

Advertising/Marketing Intras USA – Doug Zirkle Danbury Corporate Center, 107 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, CT 06811, USA Tel : +1 203 794 0444 Email : doug@intras.co.uk

E urope :

46 Holly Walk, Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV32 4HY, UK

Tel : +44 1926 334137 Fax : +44 1926 314755

Email : eurowire@intras.co.uk Website : www.intras.co.uk Website : www.read-eurowire.com

TheProfessional PublishersAssociation Member

4

www.read-eurowire.com

January 2018