Prysmian Group


The Prysmian Group is an Italian multinational corporation headquartered in Milan that manufactures electric power transmission and telecommunications cables and systems. It is the largest manufacturer of cables in the world measured by revenues.
Prysmian Group is a public company, listed on the Borsa Italiana in the FTSE MIB index.

History

Prysmian Srl was created by Goldman Sachs from the cables and systems division of Pirelli & C. S.p.A.. Goldman Sachs signed an agreement on 1 June 2005 to purchase the two companies who made up the division: Pirelli Cavi e Sistemi Energia S.p.A. and Pirelli Cavi e Sistemi Telecom S.p.A. The transaction was completed on 28 July 2005, after regulatory approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.

Draka

Draka was founded in 1910 by Jan Teewis Duyvis as Hollandsche Draad & Kabel Fabriek.
In 1970, Draka was acquired by Philips and became part of the Philips' Wire and Cable division. Through a buyout financed by Parcom and Flint Beheer, Draka became independent in 1986 at which point the name Draka was born.
It formerly had a joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent for manufacturing optical fibre, but bought out its partner's 49.9% stake for €209 million in December 2007.

Prysmian Group

Prysmian Group was created in 2011 through the merger of Prysmian and Draka. In 2009, Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian made a takeover offer for Draka, but doubts began to emerge in August. Prysmian called off the takeover talks in early September. In October 2010, French cable maker Nexans made a €15/share offer to buy the 43.9% of the company held by Flint Beheer, an investment fund owned by the wealthy Fentener van Vlissingen family. Nexans indicated that it would sell off Draka's telecommunications activities. However, Draka rejected Nexans' offer, and on 22 November 2010 instead accepted Prysmian's new offer of €17.20/share. Prysmian intended to integrate Draka's operations into their own, rather than breaking it up; integration costs are estimated at €170 million over three years. The merger of Prysmian and Draka, and the integration of the two market-leading companies, culminated in the creation of the world's largest cable maker by revenue, the Prysmian Group.
In December 2017, Prysmian acquired General Cable Corporation of Highland Heights, Kentucky in a $3 billion deal which was finalized on June 6, 2018.