United Arab Emirates-based cable manufacturer Ducab Cable Co Pvt Ltd has acquired assets of British cable maker AEI Cables for an undisclosed amount. AEI Cables was a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Paramount Communications Ltd.
Last week Paramount Communications said in a disclosure that AEI Cables has gone to the administrator and the secured lenders have shared that the administrator has finalised the sale of company’s assets. As a result, AEI Cables is no longer a subsidiary of Paramount Communications.
Delhi-based Paramount Communications had acquired AEI Cables in September 2007.
AEI Cables has a 175-year history of cable manufacturing making it one of the oldest players in the business. It caters to demands of several industrial sectors, including, mining, tunnels, defence ship-building, rubber industrial, rail (over and underground), air-field lighting, shipping and offshore, while its clients include Britain’s Royal Navy and the London Underground transport network.
Financially troubled AEI Cables entered into a restructuring process with creditors through a company voluntary arrangement in 2011 following cash flow issues.
Ducab – which operates five cable manufacturing facilities in UAE – is jointly owned by the emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two regions in UAE. The company has revenues of over $1 billion and is among the world’s largest power cables and copper products maker.
Mumbai-based investment banking firm Singhi Advisors was the sole advisor to Ducab Cable on the transaction.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
