Southwire Buys ABB's Huntersville HVDC Cable Plant

ABB said it has signed an agreement to sell its Huntersville, N.C., high-voltage cable factory to Southwire Co. The companies won’t say how much Southwire paid for it.

ABB said it has signed an agreement to sell its Huntersville, N.C., high-voltage cable factory to Southwire Co. The companies won’t say how much Southwire paid for it.

ABB, based in Zurich, Switzerland, and Southwire, based in Carrollton, Ga., also agreed to pursue a partnership to provide high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) land cable for certain projects together.

ABB said the sale of the Huntersville facility is in line with its “Next Level” strategy to optimize its business portfolio.

“We remain fully committed to the North American market and to the high-voltage cables business,” said Claudio Facchin, president of ABB's Power Systems division. “We are pleased that the Huntersville facility will be in the hands of Southwire, a well-established, innovation-focused company and look forward to building on our new business relationship.”

ABB has been heavily involved in HVDC technology since it did pioneering work on the technology over 60 years ago. ABB continues to develop in-house manufacturing capability for converters, semiconductors, cables and all major components of HVDC transmission systems, and will continue to produce high voltage land and subsea cables from its manufacturing facility in Karlskrona, Sweden.

About the Author

Doug Chandler, Senior Staff Writer

Executive Editor

Doug Chandler began writing about the electrical industry in 1992, and still finds there's never a shortage of stories to be told. So he spends his days finding them and telling them. Educationally, he's a Jayhawk with an English degree. Outside of work, he can often be found banging drums or harvesting tomatoes.