Dekro History

THE EARLY YEARS

1916: Hendrik Bastiaan Sol, his wife Christina Maria Johanna van Gemert and their daughter Anna Maria Jacoba Sol arrived in South Africa in October 1916 along with Christina’s brother, Jan Pieter van Gemert.

1920: On 8 January 1920 B. van Gemert Windmill Brand Paints was founded by Jan Pieter van Gemert and Hendrik Bastiaan Sol and the company was based on Lady Grey Street in Paarl.

1936: Stephanus Petrus du Toit Hauptfleisch married Anna Maria Jocoba Sol and in 1961 they purchased B. van Gemert Windmill. Brand Paints from Christina Maria Johanna Sol who had inherited the company after the passing away of both Hendrik Bastiaan Sol and Christina Maria Johanna Sol.

1962: B. van Gemert Windmill Brand Paints moved premises from Paarl to Elsies River. On the 1st of June 1962 the name changed to Van Riebeek Verwe (Eiendoms) Beperk.

1967: During 1967 Van Riebeek Verwe Eiendoms Beperk was purchased by members of Parliament then later listed on the Stock Exchange as ADK Industries. With the growth that ensued the company then moved premises from Elsies River to the current main manufacturing plant in Kuils River in 1972. The premises at 24 Fabriek Street, Kuils River was a paint manufacturing site from 1961 and was previously occupied by Netherlands African Paints (Plascon of today). The size of these premises are in excess of 26 000 m².

Dekro Paints Formed

1978: In 1978 the company was purchased by Roy Meaker under Alpha Rhodesian Holdings and delisted from the stock exchange. On 20 August 1981 a Special Resolution was passed and the name changed from Van Riebeek Verwe Eiendoms Beperk to Dekro Paints (Pty) Ltd.

1996: Dekro Paints provides a variety of marine paints and primers for boats, ships, pleasure craft, containers and onshore installations such as cranes. These marine paints are provided by Dekro’s own Marinecote range and through the company’s relationship with Chugoku Marine Paints. A subsidiary of Dekro, the Marinecote banner is used to market all our own marine products which include the following specialist applications:

• Anti-fouling paints
• Oleoresinous paints
• Epoxy coatings
• Polyurethane coatings
• Zinc coatings
• Vinyl paints
• Modified Acrylic coatings

1998: PRP Resins have been manufacturing resins for the paint and ink industries for over 50 Years. The PRP stands for Poly-Resin Product and was part of Dow Chemicals when it was bought by Dekro Paints on 28 September 1998. The manufacturing centre was re-sited from Durban to Cape Town during 1999 to the Performance Polymers site. The manufacturing capability of the PRP Resin plant was quadrupled and modernized with the latest technology.

2006: We have an extensive research and development team with dedicated micro-biological expertise and have forged strong relationships with leading authorities, educational institutions and independent test centres.

Consequently Dekro can provide a hygienic range of coatings that represents one of the most advanced hygiene protection solutions currently available. The Dekro Hygienic Range complies with the trend towards water-based and low solvent coating formulations which require greater anti-microbial protection. Certain coatings are Organohalogen free. Our coatings are designed to offer exceptional durability in the most demanding environments. Even in conditions of high humidity and under the most stringent of cleaning regimes, Dekro Hygiene coatings will far outlast traditional gloss paints and other coatings, typically exhibiting life spans in excess of ten years.

2009: Thales approval on our products was first issued on products that was tested for releasable concentrations of organohalogens that can contribute to “cork-taint” off flavours in wineries and wine.

The atmospheric analysis revealed NO organophenol or organoanisole compounds, these include the organochlorides and organobromine compounds

2011: Agreement Certification was issued for the first time to our Sheerflex product.  The Sheerflex Coating System is a two-coat application for use in all regions of South Africa for all types of occupancy classifications (SANS 10400: Table 1 of Regulations A (20) (1)), on sound, suitably prepared, external and internal surfaces as follows:

• sand-cement plaster
• sand-cement bagged finishes
• cast in-situ concrete/ precast concrete
• the above surfaces previously painted with polyvinyl acetate (PVA) paint
• prepared gypsum and fibre cement boards

The Sheerflex Coating System is a two coat ready-to-use, water-based flexible acrylic emulsion wall coating

2013: Rust-Rite (Pty) Ltd was founded due to the belief that it has the best “All-in-1 Metal Coating” in the Corrosive Industry! Since 1990 the product has been developed and tested in the field with great success. Due to this success Rust-Rite (Pty) Ltd has been created to manufacture and distribute this product in Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands and Australia.

Chemical and Solvent Trading started operating in July 2013 and was established to market and distribute chemicals in South Africa.

The company is managed by Mr Greg Judd who has 29 years experience in the Chemical Industry. With insight into local requirements and access to a global network of chemical suppliers, CAST is able to provide a focused service to the chemicals, coatings and construction industries. CAST is committed to meeting customer requirements by providing accurate product information, reliable technical support and chemicals of consistent quality.

Dekster Coatings has entered into an agreement with Dekro Paints, an ISO Accredited paint manufacturer, where Dekro will manufacture, market and distribute Dekster Coatings including flooring, industrial and marine coatings.

2016: Dekro’s New Green Generation Products, labelled with the Dekro Daisy indicating that it is friendly to both us and our environment.

It has been specifically formulated to contain minimal levels of any harmful substances including VOC’s, APEO, MEG, Formaldehyde, Ammonia and Solvents.

Amoriguard has entered into an agreement with Dekro Paints, an ISO Accredited paint manufacturer, where Dekro will manufacture, market and distribute the Amoriguard A-Gain products throughout Sub Saharan Africa.

2019: Dekro Speciality Wood Coatings is a turnkey supplier of an extensive range of Woodfinish coatings into the Sub Saharan African market.

The success of our business lies in our technical ability to support the vast range of imported and locally produced wood finish coatings.

We import high end finishing coatings from our International Partner , Hesse Lignal Coatings in Germany. These coatings are becoming increasingly popular due to their non yellowing, high solids properties which decrease finishing times and yield superior coating performance. Locally we produce our own resins for the manufacture of our WoodCote range of acid catalysed lacquers and nitrocellulose lacquers. This allows us the flexibility to modify every aspect of the coatings final application performance. The aim of our business is to make our customers more profitable by reducing production time , increasing productivity , decreasing reworks and improving both the application and the performance of the final coating film.

We have an extensive Research and Development team who is constantly innovating , developing and improving a wide range of performance specific products for our customers unique requirements.

Our ISO 9001 manufacturing facility is situated in Kuilsriver Cape Town with branches in Gauteng and KZN.