RHI Magnesita N.V. is a supplier of

refractory In materials science, a refractory (or refractory material) is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat or chemical attack and that retains its strength and rigidity at high temperatures. They are inorganic, non-metallic compound ...

products, systems and services. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

History

In 1908

Mining engineer Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

Josef Hörhager discovered a magnesite deposit at Millstätter Alpe in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. A German American, Emil Winter, acquired the mining rights and founded the "Austro-American Magnesite Company" (later Radex Austria). In 1974 the company was bought by National Refractories Co. and in 1987 Radex-Heraklith Industriebeteiligungs AG ('RHI AG') emerged from the National Refractories Co. as a result of a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

. Then in 1991 RHI AG acquired Veitscher Magnesitwerke Actien-Gesellschaft, a rival business founded by Carl Spaeter in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1889. Next, in 1995, RHI AG acquired a majority stake in its previous competitor Didier-Werke AG (founded by Friedrich Ferdinand Didier in 1834 when he acquired a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

and lime firing plant near

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and established the factory "Chamottefabrik F. Didier" in

Podjuchy Podjuchy is a municipal neighborhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the right bank of the East Oder river, south-east of the Szczecin Old Town, and south-west of Szczecin-Dąbie. The area became part of the emerging Polish state un ...

, thus becoming one of the first manufacturers of refractory bricks in Germany). RHI AG acquired Global Industrial Technologies (GIT) in 2000. GIT had a subsidiary, APG (formerly A.P. Green Refractories Company), which has been named as defendant in hundreds of thousands of asbestos-related injury litigation cases. GIT entered bankruptcy under

Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

in February 2002. RHI AG sold its North American subsidiaries, including GIT, later in the year. In 2004 the company was required to pay a civil penalty of $650,000 for failing to undertake asbestos remediation at a plant in Marelan,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

which it had been ordered to sell to Resco Products, Inc. in 1999. The company completed the takeover of Stopinc AG (Switzerland) in 2012 and bought a majority stake in Orient Refractories. In October 2017 RHI AG merged with Magnesita, a Brazilian competitor, and then abandoned its listing on the

Vienna Stock Exchange Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and instead secured a listing on the

as RHI Magnesita. Additionally, the RHI Magnesita shares can still be traded via the global market segment of the

. In May 2021, RHI Magnesita merged its other two Indian subsidiaries, RHI Clasil and RHI India, into Orient Refractories, which was publicly listed. In July 2021, Orient Refractories was renamed to RHI Magnesita India. RHI Magnesita India is publicly listed on the

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited, also known as the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the List of stock exchanges, 5th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, ...

and the

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the 6th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, exceeding $5 trillion in May 2024. Established with t ...

Operations

The company produces roughly 3 million tons of refractory products each year at 35 main production and 10 main raw material sites around the world.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Manufacturing companies based in Vienna Companies in the FTSE 250 Index