Company History Wellstream was founded in 1983 in Panama City, Florida USA. In the period prior to the company's acquisition by Dresser Industries in 1995, Wellstream established itself as niche market manufacturer supplying products to a broad range of offshore developments worldwide. Following acquisition, Wellstream began to emerge as a significant market player, securing the largest flexible pipe contract ever to be awarded to that date from Norsk Hydro in 1995 as part of the Troll Ojle and Gas development offshore Norway. This led, in 1996, to approval for the construction of a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and its subsequent opening less than 12 months later in 1997. In 1998, Wellstream became part of Halliburton, following the merger of Dresser Industries with Halliburton Company. Wellstream continued to cement its market position during this period with continuing product development, becoming the first company to qualify products for operation in 2, 000m water depth following many years of work in technical cooperation with Petrobras. In 2003, the company was acquired by Candover Investment Partners and a Management buy-in group. In the period that followed, the company continued to grow, commercialising its FlexSteel onshore pipeline business and commencing construction of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Niteroi, Brazil to take advantage of growing market demand in the region. On 26th April 2007, Wellstream was listed on the London Stock Exchange at 320p per share giving an initial market capitalisation of over 300m. Since then the company has gone on to achieve a record financial performance wining Company of the Year from the Chamber of Commerce in 2007. Wellstream commenced production at its new manufacturing facility in Niteroi, Brazil in May 2007 and since then successfully implemented an investment plan to expand global production capacity by 40%.