Voestalpine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The correct title of this article is voestalpine. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

voestalpine AG

Type	Public
Founded	1941
Headquarters	Linz, Austria
Key people	Republic of Austria
Industry	Steel
Products	Steel, components
Revenue
Operating income	EUR 5.78 billion
Net income	EUR 497.5 million
Employees	22,955 (2005)
Website	www.voestalpine.com

voestalpine AG is an international steel company based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems and profilform industries.

Sixty per cent of its employment is in Austria. In addition to Linz the most important plants are in Leoben in Styria and in Krems in Lower Austria. It had a large plant at Liezen in Styria which closed in the 1990s.

In 1941, the voestalpine was founded as Eisenwerke Oberdonau (Ironworks of Upper Austria). Following World War II, it was nationalized by the Austrian government, allowing the company to be controlled by powerful political interests. In 1952 voestalpine developed the LD process, the first basic oxygen steelmaking process.

From 1985 until 1995, steps were taken towards privatizing the corporation. Finally, in 2003, the name was changed to voestalpine AG in order to fit the standard naming pattern of Austrian public corporations.