---

Cooper Industries Acquires Lumiere

28 October 1998

Cooper Industries Acquires Lumiere

    HOUSTON, Oct. 27 -- Cooper Industries, Inc.
announced today that it has acquired Lumiere Design and Manufacturing, Inc., a
Westlake Village, California-based manufacturer of architectural landscape and
specialty lighting products.  Lumiere, a privately held firm with sales of
$7 million in 1997, has approximately 70 employees.  Terms of the acquisition
were not disclosed.
    Lighting products from Lumiere are sold throughout the United States for
outdoor lighting project applications in commercial, residential and
industrial settings.
    "Lumiere's line of outdoor lighting products are an excellent complement
to our specification grade residential and commercial interior lighting," said
H. John Riley, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cooper
Industries.  "With this addition, our lighting customers will be able to
specify Cooper products for entire projects, including indoor and outdoor
applications.  This strengthens our position as a leading supplier of lighting
fixtures and adds to our growing Electrical Products segment."
    Lumiere will become part of the Cooper Lighting division, a leading
manufacturer of recessed, track, fluorescent and emergency lighting fixtures.
Headquartered in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, the division has manufacturing
facilities in eight domestic and five international locations and employs
approximately 5,000 people worldwide.
    Cooper Industries, a worldwide manufacturer of electrical products, tools
and hardware, is headquartered in Houston, Texas.  Additional information
about Cooper is available on the company's World Wide Web site:
http://www.cooperindustries.com.