Icopal's history

 Icopal was founded in 1876 by Jens Villadsen, a master carpenter, who had specialised in the repair of old, tarred felt and zinc roofs. For this work, he developed, and in 1894 patented, the roofing tar material Dansk Tagpixtjære.

Jens Villadsen's son, Christian Villadsen, registered the Icopal trademark in 1907. The name was inspired by 'copal', the Aztec word for resin. In 1912, the company Aktieselskabet Jens Villadsens Fabriker was established to manufacture the new product, Icopal bitumen roofing felt. In 1995, the name of the parent company was changed to Icopal a/s.

The core product, roofing membranes, has been developed continuously, as well as additions of new products, particularly shingles, underroofs, plastic gutters, plastic roofing panels, Decra steel roof tiles, steel gutters and reinforced plastic membranes for scaffold sheeting, underroofing and geomembranes. The latest development of the Icopal business is expansion of Icopal activities within the area of metal contracting to a market leading position in the Nordic region.

The company's expansion has been significant through the past 15 years. In 1989 Icopal completed its largest acquisition to date by taking over the French Group of Siplast S.A. with sub-sidiaries in USA and Germany. The acquisition of the British company Anderson Waterproofing Ltd in 1990 was another distinct milestone as was the acquisition of Belgian Polytuil and the two companies Callenders and Vulcanite in the UK. After the acquisition of the Polish company Izolacja S.A. in 1999 and the Slovak company JCP Izolacie a.s in 2000, Icopal has also gained a solid foothold in Central Europe. 

In 2000, Icopal was taken over by a consortium consisting of American Carlisle Companies Inc. and Canadian IKO Sales Ltd along with two Danish financial investors Axcel II A/S and Kirkbi A/S, and Icopal chose to focus on the core business area of materials for the protection of buildings and other structures and to divest other business activities. In 2005 the shares held by IKO was acquired by present share holders Axcel, Kirkbi and FIH, one of Denmark's leading corporate banks. By the end of July 2007 Icopal was sold to the investment management firm Investcorp.