Prysmian Group

Draka was founded in 1910 by Jan Teewis Duyvis as Hollandsche Draad & Kabel Fabriek. In 1970, Draka was acquired by Philips and became part of the Philips' Wire and Cable division.[3] Through a buyout financed by Parcom and Flint Beheer, Draka became independent in 1986 at which point the name Draka was born. It formerly had a joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent for manufacturing optical fibre, but bought out its partner's 49.9% stake for €209 million in December 2007.

Prysmian Group was created in 2011 through the merger of Prysmian and Draka. In 2009, Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian made a takeover offer for Draka, but doubts began to emerge in August.[4] Prysmian called off the takeover talks in early September.[5] In October 2010, French cable maker Nexans made a €15/share offer to buy the 43.9% of the company held by Flint Beheer, an investment fund owned by the wealthy Fentener van Vlissingen family.[6] Nexans indicated that it would sell off Draka's telecommunications activities. However, Draka rejected Nexans' offer, and on 22 November 2010 instead accepted Prysmian's new offer of €17.20/share (9.1x EBITDA). Prysmian intended to integrate Draka's operations into their own, rather than breaking it up; integration costs are estimated at €170 million over three years.[7] The merger of Prysmian and Draka, and the integration of the two market-leading companies, culminated in the creation of the world's largest cable maker by revenue,[1][8] the Prysmian Group.

In December 2017, Prysmian acquired General Cable Corporation of Highland Heights, Kentucky in a $3 billion deal which was finalized on June 6, 2018.