Millepede ties up overseas deals

MILLEPEDE International Limited, the local designer and manufacturer of plastic cable fasteners, has increased its stake in international subsidiary firms in a move to cash in on what it calls “explosive growth”.

The ASX-listed company has increased its share in US-based Millepede USA from 56 per cent to 96 per cent, while its ownership of European subsidiary Millepede Marketing Limited has increased from 71.4 per cent to 97 per cent.

According to Millepede managing director Vincent de Villers, moves by communications giants British Telecom and Unysis to use the company’s Mille-Tie as a standard for a category of its cable systems meant that securing more equity in its subsidiary would bring home greater fortunes.

“Eighty per cent of British Telecom’s installations will be using Category 6 cables and they have made our Mille-Tie the standard fastener. We think that we are close to explosive sales,” Mr de Villers said.

“As we expect Europe to be one of the most prolific and profitable geographic areas for Millepede. This latest restructuring was necessary to simplify and consolidate loan and future funding arrangements within the group to maximise benefits to MIL shareholders.

“The increased ownership of the UK and US operations reflects the corporate strategy adopted by the board to take full and absolute control of the marketing operations of these two companies at a crucial time in Millepede’s expansion into global markets for its fastener product range.

“At one point we only had 56 per cent of the US company so we would only get 56 per cent of the profits. Now we get 94 per cent. So what we are doing is making it more investor ready; we have gotten rid of the leakage. “

Mr de Villers said the company hoped to own the subsidiaries outright by June this year.

The company’s innovative use of plastics technology has produced the Mille-Tie, which is a fastener with a difference.

Standard ties, over time, restrict and can crush the cables they hold, according to Mr de Villers. The Mille-Tie, however, self-adjusts to prevent compression and loss of bandwidth.

“More than 50 companies around the world now specify the Mille-Tie as their fastener of choice. We are becoming a recognised brand in a huge global market, with usage in the US and Europe currently at 6.4 billion ties per annum in the telecoms industry alone,” he said.