Prysmian’s US cable network: Encore Wire, factory investment and connectivity

Italy's Prysmian agreed to acquire Encore Wire for $290 a share in cash in April 2024. The transaction's enterprise value was approximately €3.9 billion, or $4.15 billion. The offer represented an 11% premium to Encore's previous closing share price. Prysmian planned to finance the purchase with €1.1 billion of cash and €3.4 billion of newly committed debt facilities.

The April acquisition agreement expanded Prysmian's plans for the United States. The company expected annual EBITDA synergies of about €140 million within four years of closing, originally anticipated in the second half of 2024.

Encore's business before the acquisition

Encore Wire's 2023 net sales were $2.568 billion, compared with $3.018 billion in 2022. Copper unit volume increased 6.7%, measured as pounds of copper contained in wire sold. The average selling price of wire per copper pound declined 17.8%, while the average purchase cost of copper per pound fell 3.7%. Aluminium wire accounted for 12.9% of sales, compared with 15.4% a year earlier. Gross profit represented 25.5% of sales, down from 36.9%.

Annual net income fell from $717.8 million to $372.4 million. Encore invested $164.5 million in capital expenditure during 2023 and ended the year with $560.6 million in cash, no long-term debt and an unused revolving credit line. Its fourth-quarter copper unit volume rose 18.8% from a year earlier and 5.9% from the third quarter. Fourth-quarter sales were $633.8 million, net income was $66.1 million and gross profit represented 21.5% of sales. The company manufactured copper and aluminium electrical wire and cable at its vertically integrated Texas campus.

Closing and the single-campus operation

Prysmian completed the Encore Wire acquisition on July 2, 2024, buying all outstanding ordinary shares for the agreed $290 each. The merger agreement had been signed on April 14. Encore became a privately held company, and its shares ceased to be listed on Nasdaq or any other public market. Prysmian expected the combination to broaden cross-selling opportunities and bring Encore's manufacturing, centralised distribution and service model into its North American business.

Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, through its Italian branch, was Prysmian's sole financial adviser, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as legal adviser. J.P. Morgan Securities was Encore's sole financial adviser, while O'Melveny & Myers provided legal advice. The companies identified data-centre development and electricity-grid upgrades among the markets they intended to serve through the combined operation.

Prysmian

Plant investments across the existing network

Before the Encore agreement, Prysmian had outlined a series of North American investments alongside its February 2024 brand update. A $60 million project in Marshall, Texas, addressed power distribution and transmission. Abbeville, South Carolina, had a $45 million program for high-voltage direct-current production and a new high-voltage laboratory. A $63.8 million project at Du Quoin, Illinois, targeted cable manufacturing for renewable-energy markets.

Other projects included $22.5 million at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for advanced transmission conductors and $45 million at Sedalia, Missouri, for aluminium building wire and cable. Prysmian expected the Sedalia project to raise capacity by 38%. A $30 million conversion at Jackson, Tennessee, changed a copper-cable facility to optical-cable manufacturing. The company's simplified brand accompanied its Connect to Lead strategy, covering integrated energy and telecommunications solutions. Its North American headquarters were near Cincinnati.

Williamsport's credit allocation and expansion plan

In April 2024, Prysmian's Williamsport facility received an allocation of approximately $3.89 million under the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit program, known as 48C. The expansion concerned advanced transmission conductors using the company's E3X technology. The planned building addition covered 51,000 square feet, with a retention pond to manage the associated increase in stormwater runoff.

Prysmian expected the project to double US manufacturing capacity for conductors incorporating E3X technology and support supplies to Invenergy's Grain Belt Express transmission project. The company described E3X as a way to increase transmission capacity while reducing losses within an existing project footprint. The Williamsport allocation formed part of Department of Energy disclosures covering 35 projects across 20 states and $1.93 billion of 48C allocations. The project fell within the Grid Components and Modernization category, covering manufacturing capacity for equipment used in electricity infrastructure.

Broadband manufacturing and self-certification

In October 2024, Prysmian announced that certain products had been self-certified against Build America, Buy America requirements for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. BEAD was a $42.45 billion grant program established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by the Department of Commerce. Prysmian identified itself as one of 20 wire and cable manufacturers participating in the self-certification list at that time.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's voluntary list allowed manufacturers to confirm that specified equipment met domestic-manufacturing requirements under the applicable waiver. Prysmian linked its participation to the Jackson conversion and a separate $50 million, multi-year modernisation of its Claremont fibre facility. The Claremont program addressed process capabilities, systems and technologies. The company had also participated in a June 2023 White House event concerning broadband infrastructure funding, before announcing its self-certification status the following year.

Broadband event and product self-certification

Optical cables and connection products

Prysmian's US telecommunications portfolio already included several cable and connectivity families in 2023. SiroccoHD cable was designed for jetting into underground microducts or over existing cable, using a reduced diameter and higher fibre density. The Eagle splice closure accommodated applications ranging from drops to a 288-count butt splice. Its modular arrangement addressed different connection requirements within broadband networks.

The portfolio also included the ezPlan ADSS aerial solution and hardened fibre-optic connectors, with several drop-cable and connector options. Prysmian presented ezPlan as a means of reducing pole-line loads and installation work compared with aerial lashing. The company promoted these products for varied network-design and construction requirements, alongside its fibre-cable manufacturing activities. They were among the products scheduled for presentation at Fiber Connect and ISE Expo in August 2023, after the Jackson plant's renovation and a visit by federal administration officials.

First consolidated results with Encore Wire

Prysmian's global sales reached €17.026 billion in 2024, with organic growth of 0.5%. Adjusted EBITDA increased from €1.628 billion to €1.927 billion. Its margin was 11.3%, calculated using revenues at current metal prices. Encore Wire entered the Industrial & Construction business from the third quarter. That business recorded €6.151 billion in sales and €620 million in adjusted EBITDA, with a 10.1% margin.

Net profit attributable to Prysmian's shareholders was €729 million. The company's free-cash-flow measure reached €1.011 billion, excluding acquisitions, disposals and antitrust effects. Net financial debt rose from €1.188 billion to €4.296 billion. The acquisition of Encore Wire and Warren & Brown contributed €4.126 billion to the increase. Prysmian also recorded €77 million of Encore-related acquisition charges within its adjustments to EBITDA. These figures covered the global group, including the newly consolidated business.

2024 revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow

Adding Channell's connectivity manufacturing

Prysmian agreed to acquire Channell Commercial Corporation in March 2025 for a base consideration of $950 million, subject to closing adjustments. A further payment of up to $200 million depended on Channell meeting specified EBITDA targets for the 2025 calendar year. The company originally expected completion during the second quarter, subject to regulatory clearance and other customary conditions. Financing would combine debt and equity-market instruments, including hybrid bonds and treasury-share disposals.

Channell, founded by the Channell family in 1922, was headquartered in Rockwall, Texas, and had just under 1,000 employees. Its three manufacturing facilities were in Texas, Nevada and California. Products included vaults, thermoplastic and metal enclosures, copper-wire connectors, fibre-management systems and thermal-management equipment. Its customers operated in telecommunications, broadband, utilities and power. Prysmian planned to include the business within Digital Solutions, extending its North American manufacturing and commercial footprint.

Channell agreement, reporting start and closing

Closing and the combined fibre portfolio

Prysmian announced completion of the Channell purchase on June 10, 2025. The $950 million base price and potential performance-related payment remained subject to the merger agreement's terms. Channell's financial contribution would be consolidated from June 1, a reporting date separate from the closing announcement. Its net sales had been $320 million in 2024.

The combined portfolio brought Prysmian's ribbon, loose-tube and drop cables together with Channell's enclosures and fibre-management components for fibre-to-the-home networks. Prysmian expected the wider offering to support deployments from the curb to the home, as well as 5G and data-centre applications. The company's previous full-year 2025 guidance excluded Channell. At closing, Prysmian said it would reconsider that guidance with the first-half results scheduled for July 31, incorporating the newly acquired business's contribution.

The next McKinney investment program

In June 2025, Prysmian began a five-year, $500 million investment program at Encore Wire's McKinney campus. The amount included $249 million previously approved by its board during the March capital-markets event. The program centred on a medium-voltage cable facility of more than 650,000 square feet. Prysmian expected that plant to begin operating in 2027 and create up to 120 jobs.

Encore had started in McKinney in 1989 with a 68,000-square-foot industrial warehouse. By the 2025 announcement, its campus covered 460 acres and contained more than 3.5 million square feet of facilities. The medium-voltage plant was the first phase of Prysmian's new investment program there. The company intended the expanded product range to serve electricity-grid development, industrial customers and data centres, using the existing campus's integrated manufacturing and distribution arrangements.

Williamsport's completed addition and supply agreement

Prysmian announced completion of the 51,000-square-foot Williamsport expansion in June 2025, with 27 additional permanent jobs. The plant had 277 employees and had operated continuously since 1965. The expansion followed a long-term supply and manufacturing agreement with Invenergy, announced in 2023. Under the agreement, Prysmian would supply up to 12,500 miles of overhead conductors for long-distance, high-voltage direct-current projects in the United States.

Grain Belt Express was the first order identified under that agreement. Its conductor cables were to use US steel and aluminium. Prysmian said the expanded plant doubled domestic manufacturing capacity for certain advanced transmission conductors incorporating E3X technology. The agreement covered a portfolio of transmission developments, while the stated mileage referred to overhead conductors. The Williamsport addition expanded an existing manufacturing operation, alongside the company's wider Pennsylvania employment base of more than 430 people.

New copper-wire and distribution facilities in 2026

By April 2026, Prysmian had unveiled a new 340,800-square-foot Copper Building Wire Plant and an expanded Service Center at McKinney. The Service Center covered one million square feet. The company described the facilities as additions to manufacturing and logistics on the same campus, with approximately 115 employees working in the new copper-wire plant and more than 250 in the Service Center.

Total employment across the McKinney campus was approximately 1,750. Prysmian said the enlarged Service Center supported next-day shipments and additional customisation. These facilities addressed copper building-wire production and order handling within the campus. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the two facilities had taken place by April 2026.

First-half reporting after the Channell purchase

During the first half of 2025, Prysmian generated global revenue of €9.654 billion, compared with €7.819 billion a year earlier. Organic growth was 4.0%, using a pro-forma comparison including Encore Wire. Adjusted EBITDA reached €1.132 billion, up from €869 million, while net profit attributable to shareholders was €426 million, compared with €402 million. The reporting perimeter included Channell from June 1, bringing its June contribution into Digital Solutions. At June 30, net financial debt was €4.694 billion. Free cash flow over the preceding twelve months was €979 million, excluding acquisitions, disposals and antitrust impacts. In May 2025, the company placed a subordinated hybrid bond with a €1 billion nominal value.

Digital Solutions generated €726 million of first-half revenue and €105 million in adjusted EBITDA, compared with €656 million and €76 million respectively. Its margin at standard metal prices increased from 12.1% to 15.1%. Prysmian raised its 2025 forecast to €2.300–€2.375 billion in adjusted EBITDA and €1.000–€1.075 billion in free cash flow. The forecast assumed an exchange rate of $1.14 per euro, no material geopolitical changes, no significant supply-chain disruption and no further significant tariff changes. It excluded antitrust-related cash-flow impacts.

Reporting the enlarged group in 2025

Prysmian generated global revenues of €19.650 billion and adjusted EBITDA of €2.398 billion in 2025. The company released these figures in February 2026. Organic growth was 5.4%, calculated with Encore included in the comparable 2024 period on a pro-forma basis and excluding metal-price, exchange-rate and consolidation-scope changes. The adjusted EBITDA margin at standard metal prices was 14.2%, compared with 12.9% on the same basis for 2024.

Net profit attributable to shareholders reached €1.270 billion, including a €346 million after-tax gain on selling the YOFC stake. The company's free-cash-flow measure was €1.171 billion, with net financial debt of €3.097 billion. The cash-flow measure excluded acquisitions, investment disposals, antitrust impacts and cash flows from non-ordinary asset disposals. Industrial & Construction recorded €7.519 billion in revenue and €795 million in adjusted EBITDA. Digital Solutions' adjusted EBITDA was €268 million. Power Grid's revenue was €3.811 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of €480 million. Transmission generated €3.262 billion in revenue and €582 million in adjusted EBITDA. These were global business-segment results. The group's margin calculations used fixed reference prices:

copper: €5,500 per tonne;
aluminium: €1,500 per tonne;
lead: €2,000 per tonne.