The proposed acquisition of AFC Cable Systems by Thomas & Betts Corp. (T&B), Memphis, Tenn., hit a snag due to concerns of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The concerns are related to compensation and also a non-compete arrangement with Ralph Papitto, chairman, chief executive officer and largest shareholder of AFC, according to Renee Johansen, T&B's director of investor relations.
At the same time, a third-party suitor has emerged with an unsolicited bid to acquire AFC Cable Systems, but AFC has not disclosed the name of the third party. The news raises questions about when, or even if, the acquisition will be completed at all.
About the Author
Doug Chandler
Senior Staff Writer
Doug has been reporting and writing on the electrical industry for Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing since 1992 and still finds the industry’s evolution and the characters who inhabit its companies endlessly fascinating. That was true even before e-commerce, LED lighting and distributed generation began to disrupt so many of the electrical industry’s traditional practices.
Doug earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Kansas after spending a few years in KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism, then deciding he absolutely did not want to be a journalist. In the company of his wife, two kids, two dogs and two cats, he spends a lot of time in the garden and the kitchen – growing food, cooking, brewing beer – and helping to run the family coffee shop.