Superior Essex Inc. History
	Superior Essex's roots are firmly grounded in the wire and cable business. Started in 1930 as a supplier of insulated wire products to Ford Motor Company, Essex modestly began what is now known as Superior Essex, Inc., the North American leader in each of its two main product lines: magnet wire/winding wire and OSP copper communications cable.

The Superior Essex of today is the result of the combination of Essex and Superior TeleCom in 1998 and the addition of Essex Nexans in 2005. Superior Telecom The origins of Superior start with Superior Cable Corporation, which was formed in 1954 in Hickory, North Carolina as a manufacturer of plastic
insulated, twisted pair, copper conductor telephone cable and wire.Superior expanded from a single plant and less than $100 million in sales to become a global force as its customers responded to explosive demand for phone service nationwide.

In 1963, Superior introduced the first all-plastic drop wire to the telephone industry and in 1964, Superior built the Brownwood , Texas telephone cable plant to better serve the Southwestern United States . In 1967, Continental Telephone acquired Superior , merging the company with a corporate family of wire, cable, coax, telephone hardware, and electronic systems manufacturers.

Superior once again became an independent manufacturer when it was divested from Continental in 1976. Superior continued to grow and, in 1980, it was acquired by Siecor Corporation, a leading producer of optical fiber and cable. In 1985, Siecor elected to divest Superior into a stand alone company and Superior soon thereafter introduced its own fiber optic cable product line. In 1993, The Alpine Group, Inc. acquired Superior and then began the acquisition of other communications cable companies. At the same time,

Superior expanded its product line to include premises data cables. In 1996, Superior TeleCom Inc. completed its Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange. By the end of 1997, the company had $500 million in revenues annually.

Essex Group, Inc. Essex Group began in 1930, when businessman Addison Holton formed the Essex Wire Corporation in Detroit . Leasing 125,000 square feet of a Ford Motor Company plant, 700 Essex employees made Model A wiring harnesses, battery cables and other insulated wire products. Essex soon expanded by purchasing the RBM Manufacturing
Company in Logansport, Indiana, which made electrical switches and other automotive components. In 1932, Essex acquired an Indiana rubber insulation plant in Jonesboro that was famous for its *Paranite® brand of building wire.

In 1936, Essex entered the magnet wire manufacturing business by acquiring a vacant industrial complex that had formerly been the Dudlo Manufacturing Company in Fort Wayne , Indiana . Dudlo was the originator of the modern magnet wire enameling process. Soon thereafter, Essex was producing enough magnet wire to build the millions of transformers used by America and its allies during World War II. Essex plants also produced thousands of miles of field telephone wire for the Army Signal Corps, as well as wiring harnesses for B-24 bombers. Later, Essex was awarded the highly prestigious "E" Award by the Secretary of War.

In 1954, the corporate headquarters was moved to Fort Wayne and by 1965 Essex Wire had grown sales to $355 million with 44 plants in North America . That year, Essex Wire Corporation offered its stock on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time.

In 1974, with nearly 100 plants and sales of three-quarters of a billion dollars, Essex merged with a subsidiary of United Aircraft, later to become United Technologies Corporation.

In 1988, an investor group, including Essex management, took Essex into private ownership where the company continued to flourish. In 1992, Bessemer Holdings purchased a majority ownership in Essex and kept it under private ownership for the next five years.

During the 1990s, Essex greatly strengthened its manufacturing operations in terms of productivity and quality. The company also began an aggressive campaign of acquisitions. Its distribution business expanded significantly in 1995 when Essex acquired Brownell, a large distributor of magnet wire and electrical motors. The Brownell acquisition was absorbed into the Company's existing distribution business, which is now called Essex Brownell. In 1998, Essex acquired Active Industries, a converter/fabricator of electrical insulation products used mainly by OEMs and motor repair shops.

In 1997, Essex management once again took the company public on the New York Stock Exchange.

EssexNexans
In October 2005 EssexNexans, a joint venture between Superior Essex and Nexans was formed creating the largest magnet wire/ winding wire producer in Europe. The joint venture has a total magnet wire/ winding wire production capacity of more than 200 million pounds and is also the second largest supplier of enamel in Europe.