Worthington Industries Inc announced that its Pressure Cylinders segment has purchased the assets of STAKO, a leading European producer of automotive liquefied propane gastanks, located in Slupsk, Poland.

STAKO manufactures toroidal and cylindrical LPG tanks for storage of liquid gas propane butane mixture for engines in passenger cars and commercial and delivery vehicles. The company has also initiated production of compress natural gas composite and steel tanks used mainly for storage of compressed methane used to fuel automotive vehicles and buses. Other composite tanks are used for storage of compressed air for medicine, aeronautics breathing air for fire fighters, scuba diving and paintball. STAKO currently has 470 employees. Sales for the last 12 months were approximately USD 25 million USD.

Mr John McConnell chairman & CEO of Worthington Industries said “This acquisition expands our alternative fuels product offering and gives us the broadest offering of alternative fuel tanks for the automotive OEM and aftermarkets.”

Mr Andy Billman president of Worthington Cylinders added “STAKO is one of the world's leading manufacturer of LPG auto tanks and strengthens our manufacturing presence for the growing global alternative fuels markets.”

With the addition of these assets, Worthington Cylinders now offers the broadest line of alternative fuel cylinders for storage of high pressure CNG and LPG: Type I steel, Type II hoop wrapped steel, and Type III aluminum-lined/ composite reinforced. The Company also has Type IV resin-lined/composite reinforced technology that it intends to further develop for the automotive industry.