Adding another well-known brand name to its stable of cable management products, the Legrand Group has announced plans to buy ICM Group, Montbard, France, the marketer of Cablofil.
The acquisition is subject to approval by French regulatory agencies.
"By acquiring ICM Group and the Cablofil brand, Legrand achieves a global leadership position in the cable management systems market,” said John Selldorff, president and CEO of Legrand North America. “Strategic acquisitions, such as this one, product innovation and investment in sales and marketing drive Legrand’s strong performance and growth.
Legrand, which has annual sales of more than $4 billion, owns Wiremold/Legrand, West Hartford, Conn.; Pass & Seymour/Legrand, Syracuse, N.Y.; Watt Stopper/Legrand, Santa Clara, Calif.; Ortronics/Legrand, New London, Conn., and On-Q/Legrand, Harrisburg, Pa. In 2004, ICM Group had net sales of about $118 million. A company statement said high demand for the Cablofil line drove its 14 percent annual growth rate for the last eight years. Approximately 60 percent of the company’s revenue is generated internationally. ICM Group has close to 500 employees and operates six manufacturing plants in Europe and the United States. Cablofil employs 55 people in the United States and has its headquarters in Mascoutah, Ill.
"The cable management segment of the market is growing rapidly, and together we are in an excellent position to meet this increasing demand,” said Tim Place, president of Cablofil Inc. “This is a unique opportunity for our customers as well as our employees.
Independent manufacturers’ reps play an important part of both companies’ marketing efforts. A Wiremold spokesperson said both companies in the United States and North America share common sales agents in the datacom market. Wiremold uses a direct specification sales force in tandem with independent manufacturers’ agents in some regions. Cablofil uses reps in the datacom segment. Several reps who sell the Cablofil line were excited about the benefits Cablofil may realize by being part of Wiremold/Legrand.
One independent manufacturers’ agent now representing Cablofil focuses on both the electrical and datacom markets. Gary Lessing, principal, Ewing-Foley Inc., Cupertino, Calif., said the acquisition makes sense for both companies.
"The way Legrand has their brand set up, they can leverage off the manufacturing and stick it into their other brands," he said. "And if they follow their typical structure and leave the brands out with their own sales and marketing out there to operate independently, then I think that should be fine. We’re a little unique in that one of the strong suits that we have is that our agency operates pretty dominantly in both the electrical and datacom markets, which is really how they found that stuff to be effectively sold.
"Where they’ve gone complete data reps, they don’t perform as well. And where they have had 100 percent electrical type reps, they don’t perform. They are a little bit of a unique product line in that they really benefit from selling organizations that operate both of those bases. They’re moving more toward that in their rep selections. They’re looking for people who have ties to both arenas."
Chuck Curry, principal of Single Source Sales, Elk Grove Village, Ill., a manufacturer’s rep who represents Cablofil, said the proposed acquisition makes sense because of Cablofil’s success in the cable tray market, and that the deal would make Legrand a "real turbo company." He was confident that sales and marketing would remain the same for at least 18 to 24 months, but after that he wasn’t sure if Legrand would keep the two brands separate or combine them. "I’m not all that worried, at least in the near-term," he said.