HIGGINS being taken over by the British company Rubicon, is planing a major expansion into Canada. The company intends set up in Canada to any intends its major customers, Northern Telecom.

Higgins is already a major supplier to Northern Telecom's European manufacturing base in Galway and is now gearing up to become a global supplier to the Canadian telecommunications equipment manufacturer.

Higgins makes the casings for telephone systems produced by Northern Telecom in Galway, including the Meridian 1 Electronic PBX, for which Galway is the European Centre of Excellence.

EMC, the data storage device manufacturer, is Higgins's other major customer. The Galway company supplies its plant in Ovens, Co Cork. Northern Telecom and EMC account for 90 per cent of Higgins's sales, which were £14.3 million in 1994, according to the acquisition document lodged with the London Stock Exchange by Rubicon. The company made a pre tax profit of, £3.77 million in 1994.

Stratford upon Avon based Rubicon is paying an initial £25 million for the Higgins Group which comprises two operating companies, J Higgins Engineering and J Higgins Manufacturing, both based in Galway. There is also a investment company in the group, Tanoak, which has more than £6 million invested. The net assets of the Higgins Group are £7.33 million and it employs over 120 people.

The Higgins Group is owned by businessman Mr Joe Higgins (46), and his family. They will receive £20 million in cash and another £5 million in Rub icon shares as payment. There will be additional payments over the next five years depending on performance, including the success of the Canadian venture. The maximum that can be paid over the next five years is £75 million.

Mr Higgins will remain on as the managing director of the company for five years and will join the board of Rub icon on a salary of £84,450 plus bonus. He will be entitled to a car and other benefits worth up to £25,000 a year.

Mr Higgins currently receives a salary of over £25,000 and payments of just under £300,000 a year from Higgins Group in the form of royalties on two patents he holds on processes employed by the company. These royalties will be limited to £10,000 a year until 1999 and be limited to a maximum of a penny a year after that.

The two other senior executives of Higgins Group, financial controller Mr Louis Conway, (35) and general operations manager Mr Thomas Clinton (39) are expected to stay with the company.

Mr Higgins established Higgins Group in 1978 and from the outset adopted the strategy of working closely with a limited number of manufacturers, primarily in the information technology area. The company developed long term relationships with several of them, including Northern Telecom. As these companies sought to globalise their supplier base, companies such as Higgins have been encouraged to expand into other countries where they have manufacturing operations.

Rub icon also supplies components to computer and telecommunications manufacturers and is looking to expand in North America.