Belden Inc. TO PURCHASE ELEKTRO-ISOLIERWERKE FROM ABB

Belden Inc. (NYSE-BWC) announced today that Belden has signed an agreement to purchase ABB Elektro-Isolierwerke GmbH (EIW). The business is located in Germany and employs approximately 200 people. Completion of the purchase is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions, including approval by the supervisory board of Asea Brown Boveri AG, Mannheim, the holding company of the German ABB group to which EIW belongs. The transaction is expected to close November 30, 1998.

EIW designs, manufactures and markets cables serving primarily the industrial and computer networking industries. It had revenues for the year ended December 31, 1997 of approximately 71 million Deutche marks (approximately U.S. $42 million).

C. Baker Cunningham, Belden’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "we are very excited about acquiring a leading German manufacturer of custom-made industrial cables. Strategically, we intend to utilize EIW to increase our presence in Germany and to expand our capability of servicing the custom-made industrial cable market throughout central Europe. While historically EIW has been profitable, we see opportunity to increase its sales and profitability. We expect EIW’s operation to be modestly additive to 1999 earnings per share."

Belden will purchase EIW for cash utilizing its existing bank lines of credit and account for the acquisition under the purchase method of accounting. Accordingly, the purchase price will be allocated to the net assets acquired based on their fair market value and the operating results of the acquired business will be included in Belden’s consolidated results from the date of closing, which is expected to be November 30, 1998.

Belden Inc. designs, manufactures and markets wire, cable and cord products for the electronic and electrical markets. Belden’s 1997 revenues were $747 million.