Cooper Industries acquires WPI Interconnect Products

January 5, 2007 -- Cooper Industries, Ltd. (www.cooperindustries.com) announced its acquisition of WPI Interconnect Products (www.wpi-interconnect.com), a Salem, New Jersey-based, privately owned manufacturer of custom connectors and cable assemblies for military, industrial and commercial applications.

The transaction is valued at approximately $74.5 million. With sales of approximately $61 million in its most recent fiscal year, WPI becomes part of the Cooper Crouse-Hinds Division of Cooper Industries.

"WPI's capabilities add substantial depth to our portfolio of highly customized specification-grade connector technologies for use in harsh, heavy-duty and hazardous locations. Coupled with our acquisition of G&H Technology in early 2006 and the existing Cooper Crouse-Hinds business, we now have greatly expanded our offering of highly engineered interconnect products for our customers," comments Cooper Industries' chairman and CEI Kirk S. Hachigian. "The WPI acquisition represents a continuation of the theme we laid out for investors in the 2006 Outlook meeting, specifically that we will build on existing platforms in the Cooper portfolio, expanding into highly customized and technical adjacencies that leverage our core strengths and represent solid profitable growth opportunities."