Electrical Marketing's LiveWire

General Cable Corp., Highland Heights, Ky., has acquired Beru SAS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BorgWarner France SAS, located in La Ferte Mace, France. The business, which makes ignition wire harnesses for European automotive OEMs and the aftermarket, will operate as General Cable Automotive Europe (GCAE) going forward.
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Federal Signal Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., will acquire Sirit Inc., Toronto, a designer, developer, and manufacturer of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for applications such as tolling, electronic vehicle registration, parking and access control, asset management, cashless payments, and supply chain systems. The transaction has a total equity value of approximately $48 million. Details

Granite City Electric Supply Co., Quincy Mass., has merged with Columbia Electric Supply Co., Brockton, Mass. Going forward the company will operate under the name of Granite City Electric Supply Co.

Steven Helle President and COO of Granite City Electric will continue in that capacity and Geoffrey Murphy, Columbia Electric’s President, will become a regional V.P. for Granite City Electric. The two companies have often been referred to as sister companies –with good reason. Phyllis Papani Godwin, Granite City’s owner and CEO, and Dorothy Palmer, Columbia Electric Supply’s owner are in fact sisters. They are the daughters of Nicholas Papani who founded both electrical supply companies nearly ninety years ago.
“We are delighted to have Columbia Electric as part of the Granite City family, “ said Phyllis Papani Godwin, Granite City’s owner and CEO. “Both companies share a culture of caring for customers and employees and a strategic focus on long term growth.”

In 2009 Granite City Electric was 75th in the nation according to Electrical Wholesaling’s “Top 200” ranking of electrical distributors. Columbia Electric Supply was ranked 190th.

“Adding Columbia’s locations to Granite City’s 21 locations will expand our market presence and enhance our position as the largest independent electrical distributor in New England.,” said Steve Helle.

Thomas & Betts Corp. (T&B), Memphis, agreed to acquire the net assets of power equipment service provider JT Packard & Associates, Madison, Wis., for an estimated net purchase price of $22 million. The transaction is expected to close next week.

JT Packard posted sales in 2009 of approximately $60 million. The company’s core business is preventative maintenance and emergency service for uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution units, DC plant and static switches used to ensure a consistent and high-quality flow of power to data centers in a wide variety of industrial and commercial market segments.

Southwire Co., Carrollton, Ga., has agreed to purchase certain assets of American Insulated Wire Corp. (AIW), a subsidiary of Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc., Melville, N.Y., that’s well known in the electrical industry as a manufacturer of portable cord, cordsets, electronic wire and cable and other cabling products. Last week’s NAED Western Conference in San Diego was buzzing with rumors of the acquisition.
Southwire will acquire the AIW brands and two manufacturing facilities in Douglas, Ga., and Coffeyville, Kan., both of which produce a variety of electrical wire and cable products for the commercial, industrial, retail and OEM markets. The purchase of AIW, which is now based in Mansfield, Mass., but for years was headquartered in Pawtucket, R.I., is expected to close by the end of February.
“Acquiring AIW will allow us to diversify our product offering while continuing to strengthen our position in our core copper building wire business,” said Stuart Thorn, Southwire CEO.
Leviton acquired AIW in 1936. Donald J. Hendler, Leviton President and CEO, said the company no longer fit into Leviton’s shift toward “more value-added systems and solutions.”

NESCO-Needham Electric Supply, Canton, Mass., has acquired certain assets of Densmore Electrical Supply, a single branch distributor in Rutland, Vt. Densmore will join forces with the Yankee Electric Supply Rutland branch, NESCO’s Vermont- and New Hampshire-based division.
Established in 1994, Densmore Electrical Supply is a family-owned and operated electrical distributor serving primarily residential contractors. Richard Densmore has been named branch manager for the merged Rutland operations.
Ranked #71 on Electrical Wholesaling’s “Top 200 Listing, NESCO has 17 branch locations throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont and retail national account offices in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Ohio.

Emerson Network Power, St. Louis, is combining its Aperture and new Avocent businesses as a new division focused on helping data center customers better manage their infrastructure. This announcement follows the December news that Emerson’s completed its Avocent acquisition.
The new division is part of Emerson Network Power and is headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. The unit combines Avocent’s management systems division, which offers access and control of the physical aspects of network devices and servers, with Aperture’s powerful infrastructure software for a robust portfolio of data center infrastructure management solutions. Emerson acquired Aperture in February 2008.
The new division will be led by President Stephen C. Hassell, who previously served as Emerson Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) since 2004. The division will report into Emerson Group Vice President Bob Bauer. As CIO, Hassell, was responsible for Emerson’s information technology strategy, including hardware, software, and services, as well as its telecommunications infrastructure. He came to Emerson from Invensys, where he served as CIO. Prior to Invensys, Hassell worked in Northrop Grumman’s Newport News division. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He also holds a master’s in management from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.
Tom Waun, president of Aperture, will take on additional responsibility as president of global sales and marketing for the new division, and will join Avocent management team members who will retain their existing roles.

For Oct. 6 Electrical Marketing posting on the acquisition, click here.

EIS Inc., a distributor of electrical insulation and other process materials used in the electrical original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and motor repair markets, announced that they have acquired the assets of Fay Electric Wire Corp., Elmhurst, Ill. Fay is a distributor of electrical process materials to OEMs and repair facilities. EIS, with 2008 sales of $466 million, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., which also owns Motion Industries.