WireCo WorldGroup is a privately owned company that claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of wire rope

Wire rope

thumb|Steel wire rope Wire rope is a type of rope which consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a helix. Initially wrought iron wires were used, but today steel is the main material used for wire ropes....

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History

J.P. Barclay, Sr. founded the company in 1931 as a spin off of the New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

-based Wire Machinery Corporation of America. In 1950 it moved its headquarters to St. Joseph, Missouri where its main operations had been since 1948.

It acquired the wire rope division of A.H. Leschen & Sons of St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 in 1962; the Armco Steel

AK Steel Holding

AK Steel Corporation is an American steel company whose predecessor, Armco, was founded in 1899 in Middletown, Ohio. Today, the company's corporate headquarters is situated in West Chester, Ohio, after having moved from Middletown, Ohio, in August 2007.- Products :AK Steel's main products are...

 wire rope division in 1988; the Rochester Corporation

Rochester Midland Corporation

Rochester Midland Corporation is a closely held specialty chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Rochester, New York. With sales and operations in nearly seventy countries, production facilities in Rochester, New York, Aurora, Illinois and Oakville, Ontario, Rochester Midland Corporation...

 wire rope division in 1998; the Broderick Bascom Rope Company and MacWhyte Wire Rope Company of Wisconsin in 1999; the Aceros Camesa in Mexico in 2005; entered into a joint agreement with Wuhan Iron and Steel

Wuhan Iron and Steel

Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp. Gōngsī) was founded in 1958 in Qingshan, Wuhan, Hubei, China. It was China's first supergiant iron and steel complex. Annually, the company produces ten million tons of iron and steel each...

 in China in 2006; Wireline Works of Canada in 2007; CASAR

CASAR

CASAR Drahtseilwerk Saar GmbH is a Wire rope producing company based in Kirkel, Germany. CASAR develops, produces and distributes Special Wire Ropes for cranes and other lifting devices. CASAR has 380 employees. The production capacity is 18.000ts ....

 in 2007 and Phillystran in 2009.

In 1994 the company received national publicity with the broadcast of security video showed an employee urinating into the employee coffeepot at its St. Joseph plant.

In 2002 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. KPS Special Situations acquired the company for $53 million in assumed debt and $1.5 million in cash.

Fox Paine & Company

Fox Paine & Company

Fox Paine & Company is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions. Fox Paine & Company, LLC was founded in 1997 by former Kohlberg Kravis Roberts partner Saul A. Fox and former Kohlberg & Co. partner W. Dexter Paine III...

 bought the company in 2007 Later that year the company moved its headquarters to the former Farmland Industries

Farmland Industries

Farmland Industries was the largest agricultural cooperative in North America when it declared bankruptcy in 2002.The Farmland brand and its slogan "Good Food From the Heartland" is now owned by Smithfield Foods. While owned by Smithfield Foods, Farmland Foods, Inc...

 headquarters on the site of the Red Crown Tourist Court

Red Crown Tourist Court

The Red Crown Tavern and Red Crown Tourist Court in Platte County, Missouri was the site of the July 20, 1933 gun battle between lawmen and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde and three members of their gang. The outlaws made their escape, but would be tracked down and cornered four days later near Dexter,...

 by Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...

. The company was renamed WiredCo Worldgroup in October 2007 and ownership was transferred to Paine & Partners

Paine & Partners

Paine & Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions. The firm was founded in 2007 by W. Dexter Paine III following his departure from predecessor Fox Paine & Company, which he had co-founded in 1997....

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