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.