LS Cable to buy US cable maker for US$900 mln

Tag : cable maker

In a regulatory filing, the South Korean company said it hasproposed $45 a share to buy 81 percent, or 19.7 million shares ofSuperior Essex.

Shares of LS Cable closed at 105,000 won on the Seoul bourse, up3.45 percent.

The tender offer will be conducted from July 1 to July 30, and theacquisition will be completed on August 4, the company said.

In March, LS Cable, the world's seventh-largest cable maker, firstproposed $36 a share, but raised its offer price to $45 per share.

Superior Essex, founded in 1930, has 26 production lines in France,Germany and other countries, and recorded $3 billion in sales lastyear.

The deal, if successfully completed, marks this year's firstcross-border mergers and acquisition deal after Doosan InfracoreCo., South Korea's largest construction equipment maker, took overIngersoll- Rand's Bobcat and other two units for $4.9 billion, thebiggest-ever overseas acquisition by a South Korean company.

Kim Ji-san, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co., said the dealwould help LS Cable secure a footing in the U.S. market amid aglobal boom in the cable industry. "The offer price does not lookthat expensive," said Kim.

Demand for wires and cables is steadily rising as countriesincrease spending on infrastructure. Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets -- Free Newsletter