Transaction by Sterling Partners portfolio company expands leading energy pipeline inspection provider’s presence in vital Bakken Shale region
Odessa, Texas, Feb. 6, 2013 – Expanding its footprint in the midstream inspection and integrity services market,Desert NDT, LLC today announced it has acquired T&K Inspection Inc., of Williston, N.D. This is the company’s second acquisition since private equity firm Sterling Partners made its investment in March 2012. Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
T&K Inspection has provided industrial X-ray services to customers in North Dakota and Montana for more than 25 years. Jerry Thompson and Ken Kain, co-owners of T&K Inspection since founding it in 1988, will continue to oversee operations in the local office. The expanded Williston, ND, location will provide both comprehensive nondestructive testing and integrity management services.
“T&K Inspection offers the most experienced and longest established nondestructive testing services team in the Bakken Shale region,” said Larry Ames, CEO of Desert NDT. “Desert’s partnership with this company represents yet another important step toward providing market-leading service to our clients in all of the United States’ major oil and gas production basins.”
“We are very pleased to join with Desert NDT and have found its principles of safety, quality and service to match the values that have supported our growth in this region,” said Ken Kain. “Together, we look forward to expanding our capabilities to support clients in this critical geography.”
Alan Macksey, a Sterling Partners managing director, noted sharply rising oil and natural gas production in the Bakken Shale region has boosted demand for reliable nondestructive testing services for pipelines and midstream infrastructure. “Desert NDT’s acquisition of T&K Inspection mirrors the strategy behind our initial investment in the business,” he said. “Desert NDT is an emerging leader in midstream inspection and integrity services and we will continue to aggressively pursue growth opportunities that bring expanded service capabilities to the company’s clients.”
About Desert NDT
Desert NDT, founded in Odessa, Texas, in 1989, started as a welding X-ray company and has evolved into a full service nondestructive testing company. A portfolio company of Sterling Partners since March 2012, Desert NDT offers ultrasonic testing, digital X-Ray and integrity management (IM) services in addition to the traditional X-ray testing. Desert’s non-destructive testing services ensure the safe installation and operation of new gathering pipelines and other midstream oil and gas infrastructure. For more information please visit www.desertndt.com.
About Sterling Partners
Sterling Partners is a private equity firm with a distinct point of view on how to build great companies. Founded in 1983, Sterling has invested billions of dollars, guided by the company’s stated purpose: INSPIRED GROWTH™, which describes Sterling’s approach to buying differentiated businesses and growing them in inspired ways. Sterling focuses on investing growth capital in small and mid-market companies in industries with positive, long-term trends – education, healthcare, and business services. Sterling provides valuable support to the management teams of the companies in which the firm invests through a deep and dedicated team of operations and functional experts based in the firm’s offices in Chicago, Baltimore, and Miami.
The people at Sterling believe in ideas and ideals, in people and partnerships that drive long-term success. For more information please visit www.sterlingpartners.com.