Paint and Coatings Industry News

Main News Page

US Pipeline Protection Firm Buys Stopaq

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

More items for Coating Materials

Fresh off its victories in a decade-old patent suit, The Netherlands’ Stopaq B.V. is taking its pipeline corrosion protection technologies to U.S.-based Berry Plastics.

Berry, based in Evansville, IN, announced Tuesday (June 19) that its Corrosion Protection Group had completed the acquisition of Frans Nooren Beheer B.V. companies, which include Stopaq.

Expanding Corrosion Protection

The move expands the breadth and depth of Berry’s corrosion protection and pipe coatings businesses and brands, which consist of Covalence heat shrinkable products, Polyken pipeline coatings, Powercrete liquid epoxy coatings and AnodeFlex impressed current linear anodes.

Berry Plastics CPG

Berry Plastics’ Corrosion Protection Group provides protective pipeline coatings for rehabilitation, offshore application, directional drilling, potable water and more.

Berry Plastics’ Corrosion Protection Group, part of the company’s Engineered Materials Division, has more than 50 years of performance in protecting oil, gas, water, wastewater, insulated pipelines and other metal structures worldwide. 

The group’s portfolio includes linings, liquid-applied coatings, and protective tape for pipes and tanks; pipe girth weld coatings; insulated pipe joint sealing systems; liquid adhesives and primers; technical services and cathodic protection products.

About Stopaq

Stopaq was founded in 1988 by Frans Nooren, who had established a waterproofing company for civil construction in the 1970s.

Based in Stadskanaal, The Netherlands, Stopaq develops and manufactures visco-elastic technologies for use in corrosion prevention, sealing and insulation applications ranging from pipelines to subsea piles to rail and cable joints. The company operates manufacturing facilities in The Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

Stopaq

Stopaq’s products include Wrappingband CZH and Outerwrap PVC, which provide corrosion protection for pipelines.

In March, Stopaq prevailed in a 10-year-old patent case against Toronto-based coating giant Canusa-CPS, a ShawCor Ltd. company that supplies pipeline corrosion protection and thermal protection products and systems.

In that case, Germany’s renowned Landgericht Mannheim patent court ruled that Canusa’s Wrapid Bond product had copied Stopaq’s visco-elastic technology used in its Wrappingband product. Wrappingband is a corrosion protection coating in wrap form for transmission pipelines.

That decision, and a previous one in the Netherlands, pulled Wrapid Bond from the German and Dutch markets.

‘Solutions Unrivaled’

“The combination of Stopaq with Berry’s existing corrosion protection group will allow for solutions unrivaled by competitors in the market space,” said Tom Salmon, President of Berry’s Engineered Materials Division.

Under the acquisition, Nooren will serve “in an ambassadorial capacity” to Berry’s Corrosion Protection Group.

Stopaq CEO J. Frits Doddema becomes Executive Vice President and General Manager of the group.

“As we begin the integration process, we will explore and implement those initiatives that make optimal use of all assets of the combined businesses, including the products, people, facilities, and brands from both companies,” said Doddema.

“Most importantly, the research strengths of the combined companies will allow for new innovation and new products utilizing the best features of all products across the group. This combination is a real ‘crowning moment’ for all we have built over the last years at Stopaq.”