AFC Cable Systems Inc. is adding PVC electrical conduit to its product line with the Nov. 2 acquisition of Georgia Pipe Co. and its plant in Thomasville, Ga.
The New Bedford, Mass.-based company paid ``in excess of $15 million'' for Georgia Pipe, according to AFC marketing director Jay Thomas.
The acquisition provides ``an addition to our product line that will enable us to fill our customers' needs within the same market,'' Thomas said.
AFC and its affiliates, including KafTech, America Cable Systems, AFC Fittings, Madison and Uni-Fab, manufacture pre-wired armored cable, flexible conduit, specialty cables, cable and conduit fittings, integrated modular voice, power and data wiring systems and other products for the commercial and industrial construction industry.
Thomas said AFC's 1998 sales, as of September, totaled $202 million. Last year's sales were $220 million.
Georgia Pipe, founded in 1990, expects sales to reach nearly $30 million by the end of 1998, up from $20 million in 1997, said Teppo Uuranniemi, vice president of sales.
Uuranniemi attributed the substantial increase to a boost in extrusion capacity from equipment replacement. The company operates 12 extruders.
Thomas and Uuranniemi said they will retain the plant's management and its 100 employees.
The company is evaluating expansion plans for equipment and staff at the Thomasville plant, Uuranniemi said.
The plant was founded in 1979 by Finnish immigrants Vaino Rautiainen and Jaakko Uuranniemi, Teppo's father. It manufactured a variety of PVC pipe products until 1990, when, as the Georgia Pipe Co., it began to produce PVC electrical conduit exclusively.
