Superior Essex Inc., the parent company of Essex Magnet Wire, and Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., both specialists in magnet wire product development and custom products, announced the finalization of a global joint venture.

A press release said that the joint venture will expand upon a previous magnet wire partnership to create a global market leader, with the combined company to operate as Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire LLC, using the “Essex Furukawa” brand. It said that customers should benefit “from significant synergies, including expansion of custom product solutions, the sharing of best practices, and the ability to better service customers with additional points of shipping, expanded global sales and technical teams, increased global rod and foundry resources, and a diversified global innovation team, especially for EV/HEV developments.”

The release cited a number of advantages of the new global joint venture, as it will allow Essex Furukawa to “lead the industry in technological advancements; have market command positions in North America, Europe, Asia, and Japan; allow for strategic customer partnerships; and expedite R&D advancements. Essex Furukawa will offer the same consistent, quality products with advanced technology—especially for electric vehicles—while offering all of our customers a more robust global network on three continents.”

The release said that there will be no change to the current contracts being honored by either company due to the creation of Essex Furukawa. Of note, earlier this year, Essex Magnet Wire was recognized with a 2019 Business Partner of the Year Award from DENSO, the world’s second largest mobility supplier.

LIBERTY Steel USA, part of the GFG Alliance, announced that it has completed the acquisitions of Ohio-based companies Solon Specialty Wire and Shaped Wire from Leggett & Platt.

A press release said that adding the companies will provide LIBERTY new product markets and avenues for growth in the U.S. Solon, a manufacturer of drawn steel wire, cold‐rolled shapes and aluminum products, will be incorporated and managed under the LIBERTY Johnstown Wire business.

“Solon’s wide range of wire size capabilities will complement (our) existing North American wire operations in Peoria, Illinois, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania,” said LIBERTY Steel USA Chief Executive Greg Jones. “(Our) Solon’s operations have been strongly profitable historically and will drive synergies and growth across LIBERTY’s wire business.”

Leggett & Platt confirmed that Solon Specialty Wire, part of the Leggett & Platt Wire Group, was sold on Oct. 9 to an undisclosed buyer as part of a focus on core products.

The company, based in Solon, Ohio, produces a range of steel wire and steel wire products. It was acquired by Leggett & Platt in 2000, and in 2005, it was combined with another business (part of the sale) that provides aluminum wire and wire products.

The “sale closed” sign is posted on the Hilco Industrial website for the assets sale of Wrexham Wire, a U.K. company that saw its outlook decline, with Covid-19 a contributing factor.

The company, which manufactured cold heading, bedding and seating, and galvanized and engineering wire, closed on August 3 as part of an annual shutdown, but did not reopen for business. Efforts to find a buyer/investors did not succeed, and the company was placed into administration. Some 80 jobs were lost.

Per multiple media reports and the company’s website, the operation produced an average of 50,000 tons of finished products a year at its base in the Wrexham Industrial Estate. The company, which exported to 14 countries and was once the U.K.’s largest producer for the automotive and construction sectors, could not continue operations. It had been scheduled to be an exhibitor at wire Dusseldorf 2020.

Anthony Collier and Ben Woolrych, partners at specialist business advisory firm FRP, were appointed as joint administrators. The company previously fell into administration in 2015, when it traded as Caparo Wire.

“Wrexham Wire, like many of Britain’s industrial businesses, has faced a catalogue of challenges in recent months as it contended with a weakening global economy, political uncertainty and the disruption of the pandemic,” Collier said.

NKT has completed an upgrade to a high-voltage power link that saw the replacement of four existing power cables that were installed in 1973 with the company’s 400 kV XLPE HVAC power cables.

A press release said that NKT completed the upgrade of the high-voltage power link connecting Denmark and Sweden. The original power cables were the world’s first low-pressure, oil-filled power cables installed offshore at this voltage level.
Since 1915 the power grids of Sweden and Denmark have been connected by a power cable providing exchange of energy between the neighboring countries. For NKT, the project was executed to a tight time schedule, and the new power cables for the historical power link are now in full operation.

Interconnectors are essential to the power cable infrastructure needed to ensure an efficient integration of the increasing amount of renewable energy produced in Europe. We are happy to upgrade the cables across Öresund playing a key part in maintaining the high transmission security of both countries and to strengthen the interconnection of the European power grids, says Executive Vice President Claes Westerlind, head of the Swedish high-voltage NKT factory in Karlskrona.

The power link across Öresund is owned by the Swedish national grid operator Svenska Kraftnät that awarded NKT the project in a consortium with Boskalis. In a joint effort, the two companies successfully replaced the original oil-filled cables with four new 400 kV XLPE HVAC power cables in close collaboration with Svenska Kraftnät and Energinet in Denmark. The new cables were made at the company’s high-voltage power cable factory in Karlskrona, which is running on 100% green electricity.

Of note, the original power cables were produced by the cable division within ASEA, a unit now part of NKT. In collaboration with Boskalis, NKT removed the old power cables which were sent for recycling before the new power cables were installed at the same location and connected to substations at the shores on both sides.