CommScope Holding Company, Inc. has agreed to sell certain assets of its CommScope BiMetals business to Copperweld Bimetallics, LLC, a subsidiary of Fushi Copperweld with facilities in the United States, Asia and Europe. The economic terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction involves the sale of equipment associated with the manufacture of all copper-clad aluminum and copper-clad steel products.
CommScope says it will retain the processing equipment needed for the production of its GroundSmart grounding solutions, and will continue to manufacture and sell GroundSmart for use in grounding utility and communications networks. In addition, the global supplier of infrastructure for communications networks will close its Statesville, North Carolina site as a result of excess manufacturing capacity created by these changes to its BiMetals business.
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CommScope plans to re-deploy the manufacturing of its GroundSmart, E2O (Electrical-to-Optical) line of hybrid fiber, conduit and coaxial products, ConQuest Toneable Conduit and ConQuest Cable-in-Conduit (CIC) products to nearby North Carolina facilities. The company expects some of the Statesville employees will be able to continue employment at either its Catawba or Claremont facilities. The transition of operations is expected to begin almost immediately and should take between six to 12 months to complete.
The parties have also entered into a supply agreement pursuant to which Copperweld will supply CommScope with bimetallic wire as needed for the manufacture of cables and other products.
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