Accent Wire Tie recently acquired Coastal Wire Company, a U.S. company founded in 1978 that specializes in fully annealed baling wire at its plant in Georgetown, South Carolina.

A press release said that Coastal Wire is the only U.S. entity that currently manufactures all baling wire products, including black-annealed coil wire, black-annealed box wire, high-tensile galvanized wire, galvanized bale tie wire, black-annealed bale ties, galvanized bale ties and the company’s proprietary product KleenGreen bale ties. The acquisition took place last December.

Based in Tomball, Texas, Accent Wire Tie notes at its website that it has the largest U.S. baling wire manufacturing and distribution network in the industry. The company has seven mills, and 21 distribution centers. Through its Wire-Tie division, Accent’s core offerings include baling wire distribution, bale tie manufacturing, wire-tier equipment manufacturing, and wire-tier parts and repair services to waste management providers, material recovery facilities, packaging companies and commercial customers throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Of note, Accent Wire Tire—along with two sister companies, itself was acquired last August by funds managed by Apollo, a deal that had been predicted by Joanna Reiss, partner and co-head of impact at Apollo. “We believe Accent is a critical supplier to the recycling industry poised for continued growth and impact, and we see several opportunities to help grow and develop the company.”

Minnesota Wire (MN Wire) announced that it is teaming up with Chamfr, which specializes in medical device components.

A press release said MN Wire, whose product lines include medical wire, is partnering with Chamfr “to revolutionize the medical device landscape by offering state-of-the-art solutions to meet the industry’s growing demands.” MN Wire noted that it has more than a half century of medical experience. “When it comes to sub-markets like defibrillation, patient monitoring, imaging, and wearable electronics among others, Minnesota Wire goes through extensive testing and prototyping on a variety of processes, including extrusion, molding, terminating, shielding, and many others.

Chamfr provides medical products for R&D projects. From nitinol parts to tubing, Chamfr gives engineers quick access to thousands of medical parts, equipment, and tools from 50+ suppliers for their medical device design and development projects. “This collaboration aims to enhance and streamline the development of medicine systems including carbon fiber, high-performance alloy conductors, and textiles, among others, giving a fresh perspective to engineers and developers in the healthcare sector.”

Southwire reports that the company has made an investment in HData, a software company that automates regulatory data analysis.

A press release said that HData, based in Birmingham, Alabama, digitizes regulated energy industry data by automating access to critical analytics for electric, oil and gas companies and their regulators. “Our investment in HData gives us a valuable partnership in the rapidly developing world of AI for business intelligence,” said Charles Hume, managing director of Southwire Technology Ventures. “As a leading supplier to the utility industry, we are excited about the insights that our partnership with HData will provide into the industry.”

As a part of this investment, Southwire will join HData’s Advisory Board, represented by Donna Ward, gaining further insights into the utility industry. HData’s proprietary software can scan and extract insights from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reports, turning multi-thousand-page PDFs into actionable charts, comparisons and insights.

HData joins a portfolio of investments managed by the Southwire Technology Ventures team. This team collaborates with pioneering startups to build the future of smart power within the realms of smart buildings, electric mobility and the grid of the future.

Denmark’s NKT has been chosen to be the cable supplier for Sweden’s SR Energy, which is building a 15-turbine wind farm.

A press release said that Kanonaden Entreprenad, the project developer, will use NKT’s AXAL-TT PRO 3.0 and AXALJ-TT EQV 36 kV cables to connect the turbines to the grid. The wind farm will be built at a hilly location that is currently used for commercial forestry. The farm will consist of 15 wind turbines, each more than 200 meters tall.

NKT will deliver 40 kms of cable from its factory in Falun. The AXAL-TT PRO 3.0 cable connects each turbine to the cable station, while the AXALJ-TT EQV cable will connect the substation to the grid network.

The wind turbines themselves will be delivered in May 2024 and then installation will begin, to be completed in the fall of that year. Due to the height of the turbines, the weather will determine when the project can be fully completed.

NKT Key Account Manager Mikael Åkerlund said that AXAL-TT PRO 3.0 has a jacket that is up to four times stronger than usual for this type of cable. The jacket has deformation zones which neutralize the force of penetrating rocks and allows it to be laid and plowed in existing material, which is important in this setting in this part of Sweden.