[WRE | SPOTLIGHT]
BRIDON AND BEKAERT Unite Forces
BY STEPHANIE AURORA LEWIS B
ridon International Ltd., owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), and Bekaert are undergoing the details of a legendary merger in the history of the wire rope industry, expected to finalize in early 2016. Bridon and Bekaert are two of the largest manufacturers in the wire rope
industry and both have historically produced high quality and innovative products. Te merger-related focus for both companies is to join efforts in research and technology, to cover more areas of the world, and to become more competitive as a united force in Asian markets.
Distinguished American businessman, Jim Rogers said about the act of mergers in general, “Tough times helped many commodities producers become lean and mean through consolidation, mergers, and cost-cutting. All that excess supply has been sopped up.” Chris Dugan, President of the Americas Region for Bridon, says that talks between Bridon and Bekaert started with Bridon and OTPP approaching Bekaert about the possibility of a merger. Talks progressed smoothly with both companies understanding that a joined union will create benefits for both and for the wire ropes industry as a whole. Furthermore, “the employees at both businesses are excited about this merger,” says Dugan. Bridon is currently based in Doncaster, UK, and was founded as early as 1789, originally called Te British Ropes Ltd. Bridon’s global ropes are arguably some of the most specialized and highly qualified ropes in the worldwide industry. Currently, Bridon operates 11 manufacturing plants and generated a consolidated sales amount of 350 million Euros ($384.3 million) in 2014 with over 1,600 employees. Bekaert, originally founded in 1880, specializes in steel wire transformation and coating technologies. Bekaert (Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company from Belgium that has approximately 30,000 employees and 4 billion Euros ($4.4 billion) in annual revenue. Currently, Bridon dominates European and USA
markets while Bekaert holds strong positions within Latin America, Canada, and Australia. “Most of Bekaert’s wire ropes sales are in surface mining while Bridon has traditionally focused on offshore lifting and mobile cranes,” says Dugan. While all of Bridon will be contributed to the new Bridon Bekaert Ropes
Group, only the ropes and advanced cords from Bekaert will move over to the new entity. Tis merger marks a significant change for both companies that both dominated the market and are viewed, by some such as the Te Star newspaper of Sheffield, England, as a union of rivals in their article entitled, “Bridon in £430m merger with rival,” dated December 8, 2015. “Te union of Bridon and Bekaert is not driven by
where the two businesses overlap and compete,” says Dugan. Up until now, both Bridon and Bekaert have been conducting a great deal of research in solving problems for high-performance wire ropes. “What is interesting is that we have been working on the same problems in different ways. We can soon combine our efforts and findings into new innovative ideas and products,” says Dugan. At the end of the day, “when the merger is completed, it will be like the two businesses fitting together like puzzle pieces,” Dugan explains.
WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 15
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