 In the 1930s, ITT purchased German electronic companies Standard Elektrizitätsgesellschaft (SEG) and Mix & Genest, both of which were internationally active companies and Romanian telecommunications monopoly Societatea Anonima Română de Telefoane.Its only serious rival was the Theodore Gary & Company conglomerate, which operated a subsidiary, Associated Telephone and Telegraph, with manufacturing plants in Europe.In the United States, ITT acquired the various companies of the Mackay Companies in 1928 through a specially organized subsidiary corporation, Postal Telegraph & Cable.