RHI Magnesita
RHI Magnesita N.V. is a supplier of refractory products, systems and services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
Origins
In 1908, Mining engineer Josef Hörhager discovered a magnesite deposit at Millstätter Alpe in Austria. The German-American Emil Winter acquired the mining rights and founded the "Austro-American Magnesite Company".Growth
In 1974 the company was bought by National Refractories Co. and in 1987 Radex-Heraklith Industriebeteiligungs AG emerged from the National Refractories Co. as a result of a management buyout. In 1991, RHI AG acquired Veitscher Magnesitwerke Actien-Gesellschaft, a rival business founded by Carl Spaeter in Germany in 1889.In 1995, RHI AG acquired a majority stake in its previous competitor Didier-Werke AG.
RHI AG acquired Global Industrial Technologies in 2000. GIT had a subsidiary, APG, 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] in February 2002. RHI AG sold its North American subsidiaries, including GIT, later in the year. Harbison-Walker Refractories, A.P. Green and North American Refractories were merged and spun off as ANH Refractories Company in 2002. 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, Canada which it had been ordered to sell to Resco Products, Inc. in 1999.