RHI AG

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RHI AG

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN AT0000676903
resolution 20th June 2017
Reason for dissolution Merger to form RHI Magnesita
Seat Vienna , AustriaAustriaAustria 
management Stefan Borgas
Number of employees 7,385
sales 1,651.2 million euros
Branch Refractory
Website www.rhimagnesita.com
Status: 2017

RHI headquarters, Vienna

The RHI AG was a major producer for the production of non- substitutable refractory materials for all industrial combustion and smelting processes. The company was based in Vienna and employed 7,900 people worldwide at around 30 production sites and over 70 sales locations. RHI produced more than 1.5 million tons of refractory materials (refractory bricks, masses, mortars and functional products) every year. In total, RHI supplied more than 10,000 customers from the steel , cement , non-ferrous metals , glass , energy and chemical industries in over 180 countries.

RHI and Magnesita have been a combined company since October 2017: RHI Magnesita .

history

Beginnings

Carl Spaeter

In 1834 Friedrich Ferdinand Didier acquired a brickworks and lime distillery in today's Polish Podjuchy near Szczecin ( Stettin , then Prussia ) and founded the " F. Didier Chamotte Factory in Podejuch". Didier thus became one of the first manufacturers of refractory bricks in Germany .

Carl Spaeter discovered a magnesite deposit in Veitsch (Styria, Austria ) in 1881 and founded the “ Veitscher Magnesitwerke Actien-Gesellschaft” in 1899 .

In 1908, the mining engineer Josef Hörhager discovered a magnesite deposit on the Millstätter Alpe near Radenthein (Carinthia, Austria). The German-American Emil Winter acquired the mining rights and founded the Austro-American Magnesite Company (also: Austrian-American Magnesite AG , ÖAMAG ; later Radex Austria - from RADenthein + EXport).

Foundation of RHI and Veitsch-Radex

The American General Refractories Co. became Radex Heraklith Industriebeteiligungs AG (since 1998: RHI AG) as part of a management buy-out . The two traditional Austrian refractory companies Radex Austria AG and Veitscher Magnesitwerke Actien-Gesellschaft merged in 1993 to form Veitsch-Radex AG - today as Veitsch-Radex GmbH & Co OG, a 100% subsidiary of the RHI Group.

Acquisitions

In 1995, RHI acquired the majority of shares in the former competitor Didier-Werke AG , which were fully taken over in 2010.

In 2001, RHI took over a number of American companies that were charged with asbestos claims . This almost led the company to ruin. The following so-called Chapter 11 procedure was completed after 11 years. The strategic realignment of the group was completed in 2006 with the sale of the Heraklith insulation division and the resulting focus on the core competence of refractory materials.

With the integration of Monofrax , RHI strengthened its market position in 2007 as a full-range supplier for fused-cast refractory specialties in the North American special glass market. This group company was sold to Callista Private Equity in 2016 .

In 2008 RHI acquired two plants from Foseco and expanded its position in the ISO area in 2008 . High-quality ISO products are required for the controlled, protected casting of steel in continuous casting .

In 2011, ZAO Podolsk ( Russia ), Premier Periclase Ltd. ( Ireland ) and SMA Mineral Magnesia AS ( Norway ) acquired. The Stopinc AG ( Switzerland ) was fully acquired 2012th Orient Refractories Ltd. ( India ) was majority acquired in 2013.

Diversity on the supervisory board

After successful negotiations with Christian Kern to take over the office of CEO of RHI, he switched to politics as Federal Chancellor for the SPÖ in May 2016 . Because of a legal challenge brought by the investor Rupert-Heinrich Staller against four members of the supervisory board, including ex-Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPÖ) and ex-Vice-Chancellor Hubert Gorbach ( FPÖ / BZÖ ), for violating the diversity in the composition of the supervisory board required by the German Stock Corporation Act with women, Gusenbauer and Gorbach left in September 2017.

Merger with Magnesita

In 2016, RHI announced the intention to merge with the Brazilian Magnesita to form RHI Magnesita, the costs for which should amount to up to 450 million euros, the share should be traded from October 30, 2017 in London , the headquarters (the holding company RHI MAG NV) was moved from Vienna to the Netherlands . The control of the group as well as the tax levies remained in Austria. At the beginning of August 2017, the shareholders' meeting approved with 99.7% and had given three competition authorities the green light.

Shareholders

One of the main shareholders (22.8%) was Martin Schlaff , whose son David was represented on the supervisory board.

Products

Magnesite mine of RHI in Radenthein , Carinthia

RHI's core business was the manufacture, sale and delivery of high-quality ceramic refractory products, the development and implementation of tailor-made system solutions and the implementation of services for the key industries of steel , cement , lime , non-ferrous metals , glass and the environment / energy / chemistry .

RHI offered a product range comprising more than 120,000 individual items that had to withstand the extreme thermal, mechanical and chemical loads that occur in all industrial processes in the high temperature range.

The product portfolio included shaped refractory products such as hydraulically pressed and fused-cast bricks, isostatically pressed products and prefabricated components made from masses, unshaped refractory products such as repair, building and casting masses and mortars, as well as functional products that had to fulfill additional process-metallurgical functions in addition to high-temperature-resistant.

Research and Development

RHI Technology Center, Leoben
Researchers at the TCL

The company's research and development was also concentrated in the RHI Technology Center (TCL) in Leoben , Austria . The research institute was founded in 1959 and in 2017 was the world's largest industrial research facility in the field of refractories.

Around 165 researchers from ten nations worked here, a third of them women. RHI also established another, smaller research unit at the Chinese site in Dalian .

RHI had around 139 patent families with more than 1,425 individual patents or patent applications as well as around 1,300 trademark rights for around 120 protected brand names and logos.

Board

In January 2017, the Management Board of RHI AG consisted of five people:

  • Stefan Borgas (CEO, interim CFO)
  • Thomas Jakowiak (CSO, Industrial Division)
  • Gerd Schubert (COO, CTO)
  • Reinhold Steiner (CSO, Steel Division )

Brands

The RHI umbrella brand encompasses several brands that are established on the market:

  • Didier
  • Dolomite Franchi
  • Interstop
  • Radex
  • Refel
  • Veitscher

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Shareholder FAQ - RHI Magnesita Investors. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  2. new board ( memento of the original from December 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhi-ag.com
  3. a b annual report  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 2017@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rhi-ag.com  
  4. RHI at a glance ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhi-ag.com
  5. ^ History. (No longer available online.) In: rhi-ag.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; Retrieved July 25, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhi-ag.com
  6. Excerpt from the water book. In: portal.tirol.gv.at. Retrieved July 25, 2017 .
  7. Occupational health care: maintenance contracts for employees. In: diepresse.com. Retrieved July 25, 2017 .
  8. RHI: asbestos claims definitively off the table . In: The Standard . May 2, 2013 ( derstandard.at ).
  9. Callista acquires 100% of shares in Monofrax LLC, Falconer, New York , June 7, 2016
  10. RHI AG: RHI AG: RHI AG takes over Swiss specialty refractory manufacturer Stopinc AG. (No longer available online.) January 18, 2012, archived from the original on February 25, 2016 ; Retrieved February 25, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhi-ag.com
  11. Annual Report 2013. (No longer available online.) RHI AG, archived from the original on August 5, 2017 ; Retrieved February 25, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhi-ag.com
  12. Kern dropped millions . In: Courier . September 24, 2017, p.  9 ( Online [accessed October 24, 2017]).
  13. Section 87 (2a) of the AktG
  14. a b Hedi Schneid: RHI: lawsuit against the “men's association” . In: The press . June 9, 2017, p. 26 ( online [accessed October 24, 2017]): “At RHI, four members of the supervisory board were up for re-election - Herbert Cordt, Helmut Draxler, Hubert Gorbach and Alfred Gusenbauer. The challenge is directed against the election of all four - but at least (for legal reasons) against the election of Gusenbauer, who was the last to take place. "
  15. RHI Supervisory Board in future without Gorbach and Gusenbauer . In: The Standard . September 15, 2017, p.  22 .
  16. RHI turns its back on the Vienna Stock Exchange after the merger . In: The Standard . October 6, 2016 ( derstandard.at ).
  17. At RHI, almost all inspectors have to go - including Gusenbauer and Gorbach. In: industrial magazine . September 14, 2017. Retrieved October 24, 2017 .