Essex Wire Corporation was founded in 1930 as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for some of the first Fords to roll off the assembly line. By 1965, it had grown to a company with $355 million in sales and 44 plants in North America.

Meanwhile, Superior Cable, founded in 1954, had sales that passed the $100 million mark in 1989. One year after its initial public offering on the NYSE in 1996, sales passed the $500 million mark.

In April of 1999, history was made with the acquisition of Essex International by Superior Telecom Inc. The combination formed Superior Essex, the largest wire and cable manufacturer in North America.

Quite a bit has happened since Superior and Essex merged in 1999.

2004 - Acquisition of Belden's North American outside plant (OSP) communications wire and cable business

2004 - Acquisition of Nexans's North American magnet wire inventory and certain U.S customers

2005 - Joint venture with Nexans in Europe, resulting in 60 percent ownership of Essex Nexans

2006 - Expansion into China through construction of a Greenfield magnet wire facility

2007 - Announced acquisition of Nexans's remaining magnet wire facilities in Canada and China, which specialize in continuously transposed cable (CTC)

A number of historical events preceded the merger of Superior and Essex, and the below timeline will provide more details of the history of Superior and Essex.