SOUTHFIELD, MI, -- November 17, 1997 -- Prestolite Wire Corporation has acquired Northern Lights Cable, Inc. of North Bennington, VT. Northern Lights is a manufacturer of fiber optic cable and assemblies for the telecommunication industry. Both companies are privately held. Latona Associates of Hampton, N.H., served as the exclusive financial advisor to Prestolite Wire on this transaction.

"Northern Lights is an excellent fit for Prestolite," said George Joeckel, president and chief executive officer of Prestolite. "Its broad range of fiber optic cable products and services, its manufacturing and applications expertise, and, most importantly, its team of fiber optics experts will all enable us to improve our product selection as we expand our telecommunications business."

The addition of fiber cable broadens Prestolite's offerings, which presently consist of copper wire products for voice and data communications, including NETLink 2000®, Category 5 PrestoPULL, and a soon to be released UTP cable capable of supporting data speeds in excess of one gigabit per second.

"The acquisition of Northern Lights and the two expansions of our telecommunications wire plant in Nebraska, which we announced this year, are part of our strategy to provide a full menu of 'bandwidth solutions' to our customers, utilizing both copper and fiber optic cable," said Preston Speers, vice president and general manager of telecommunications products.

Wayne Kachmar, president of Northern Lights Cable, has agreed to remain in his current capacity. "Wayne is an excellent leader and will be pivotal in guiding Prestolite's fiber optics business strategy," Mr. Joeckel said.