General Cable acquires Chinese specialty cable facility

General Cable Corporation announced that it has completed the acquisition of Jiangyin Huaming Specialty Cable Company Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer of specialty automotive and industrial cable products, based in Jiangsu province. The new company, General Cable (Jiangyin) Company Ltd., with revenues of approximately $12 million, employs approximately 200 associates. Over the next three years, General Cable plans to invest additional capital and introduce technology and manufacturing expertise to improve the utilization of the acquired assets and expand the new company’s product portfolio, profitability and revenue base. Revenue growth is expected to come primarily from the fast growing domestic Chinese market as well as export opportunities to customers in the wider Asia Pacific region. The company expects to use a small amount of proceeds from its recent convertible debt offering to fund both the initial purchase price and any required short-term capital investments.

“Our Asia Pacific management team has been working diligently to identify the right assets to enter the Chinese market,” said Campbell Whyte, president and chief executive officer, General Cable Asia Pacific. “With this platform and experienced General Cable management resources led by Xubing Xia, General Cable’s China country manager, we expect to expand production capabilities and capacity in the company’s served markets as well as diversify its product offering to include transportation, mining and nuclear generation cables for the Chinese market.”

Gregory B. Kenny, president and chief executive officer of General Cable, added, “This transaction represents a small first step in implementing the company’s strategy to capitalize on growth opportunities in Asia. Earlier, we established sales offices in China and India to facilitate exports of specialized cables into those countries. We continue to patiently evaluate additional investment opportunities in those countries, as well as globally, aimed at energy and infrastructure cabling and systems.”