General Cable Corp. is adding the Middle East and North Africa to its growing list of international markets for its wire and cable products. The company, based in Highland Heights, Ky., just closed a deal for an Algerian manufacturer of power and construction cable called Enica Biskra. Major investments in the company, to the tune of more than 20 million euros over the next few years, are planned to expand its reach into the fast-growing Middle East and North African regions, as well as into Europe. "We will be able to invest and grow this business and the workforce into a highly successful enterprise reaching far into Europe and the neighboring Middle East region," says Domingo Goenaga, CEO of General Cable Europe.
The move into Algeria is the latest in GC's global growth strategy, which began in 1999 with its purchase of BICC. In 2007 alone, the company completed four acquisitions that brought it into growing markets overseas. Phelps Dodge International, a $1.2 billion company that sells electrical infrastructure products in 45 countries, was the largest, but it also bought a Chinese manufacturer of automotive and industrial cables, formed two joint venture companies in India, and acquired a German cable manufacturer. It's targeted fast-developing economies in China, India, Latin America, Africa and Asia, and is moving into new areas that promise high growth, such as undersea power cables and wind energy. General Cable now employs 12,000 people on six continents.
Writer: David Holthaus
source: Michael P. Dickerson, General Cable Corp.
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