RHI AG

Coordinates: 48°12′31.5″N 16°22′21.3″E / 48.208750°N 16.372583°E

RHI AG
Aktiengesellschaft
Traded as WBAG: RHI
Industry Manufacturing, engineering
Founded 1834 as Chamottefabrik F. Didier
Headquarters Vienna, Austria
Key people
 Franz Struzl (CEO), Herbert Cordt (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Heat resistant refractory products
Revenue €1.523 billion (2010)[1]
€126.0 million (2010)[1]
Profit €105.9 million (2010)[1]
Total assets €1.449 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity €320.9 million (end 2010)[1]
Number of employees
 7,260 (average, 2010)[1]
Website www.rhi-ag.com

RHI AG (German: Radex-Heraklith Industriebeteiligungs AG) is a Vienna-based Austrian company specialising in producing heat-resistant refractory products for the steel, cement, glass, lime and non-ferrous metals industries. The company has an annual producing capacity of 2 million tonnes of refractory products, making it the largest company in the world in this field of activity.[2] The company employs around 7,700 people in 32 locations in 14 countries, with an annual turnover of approximately EUR 1.6 billion.

History

The company was founded in 1834[3] by the brickyard and lime kiln owner Friedrich Ferdinand Didier (1801–1867) as the Chamottefabrik F. Didier, at Podejuch, Pomerania (today part of Szczecin, Poland) in what was then Prussia. The company was one of the first in Europe to produce refractory bricks (chamotte) using quartz materials. By 1888 the Didier-Werke, as it was later known, opened its own research and development division with the task of developing new heat-resistant materials. In 1932 the company officially adopted the Didier-Werke AG name and became a major producer of German refractory products.[2]

The discovery of the fire-resistant properties of magnesite and magnesium carbonate gave a new boost to the refractory products industry in Europe, and especially in Austria, which had large magnesite deposits. In 1881 the German merchant Friedrich Albert Carl Spaeter (1835–1909) from Koblenz established magnesite works in Veitsch, Styria; followed by the Austro–American Magnesite Company at Radenthein, Carinthia in 1908 and Dolomite Franchi at Marone, Italy in 1919.

Activities abroad began with the 1990 acquisition of 50% of National Refractories of Oakland, based in Oakland, California.[2] In 1991 the company acquired a controlling stake in Veitscher Magnesitwerke AG, its main Austrian competitor. In the same year the Dolomite Franchi company based in Italy was acquired by RHI AG. One of the most important company takeovers took place in 1994 when RHI bought Germany's Vedag Dachsysteme GmbH specialised in producing roofing materials which had production facilities in Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland. After buying the majority of the Didier-Werke in 1995, the company had production facilities in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Annual Report 2010". RHI. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "RHI AG". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  3. ↑ http://www.rhi-ag.com/internet_en/rhi_group_en/history_channel_en/

External links