History

The company's history goes back to 1949

The company became known as Sapa RC Profiles NV/SA in January 2004 after the acquisition of Remi Claeys Aluminium by the Sapa Group and the delisting of Remi Claeys Aluminium on the Euronext Brussels exchange in October 2003.

Sapa RC Profiles NV/SA is the former extrusion business unit of Remi Claeys Aluminium NV in Lichtervelde and the RC Aleurope SA subsidiary in Ghlin.

The history of the company goes back to 1949, when Remi Claeys started manufacturing welded steel tubing for his Superia bicycle factory. The company grew very rapidly during the post-war economic boom in Belgium.

The first extrusion press was installed in 1957. Additional investments followed in rapid succession, including an aluminium foundry, aluminium tube fabrication lines, and a cold-rolling mill for aluminium strip.

With the success of the aluminium operations, manufacturing of steel products was stopped in 1979, when the company passed into the hands of the Flemish government (GIMV).

An investment group under the management of the industrialist Aimé Desimpel took over the operation in 1991 and restructured the company as follows: Extrusion (aluminium profiles), Alutubes (aluminium welded tubes), and RC System (architectural systems in aluminium).

The ambitions of the new owners quickly led to large-scale investment projects and take-overs, and Remi Claeys Aluminium became an international group. Key events of this period were:

• Installation of a new 5500 T press in 1991
• Modernisation of the 2200 T press
• Acquisition of Ghlin-based Aleurope (formerly owned by Reynolds) in 1997
• Re-launch of the activities under the new company name RC Aleurope
• Listing of the Remi Claeys Aluminium Group on the Brussels Stock Exchange (Euronext) in 1998.

 In June 2003, the majority of the shares were acquired from the Desimpel family by Sapa, a leading international extrusion group. Sapa has owned 100% of the shares since October 2003.

The name Remi Claeys Aluminium NV was retained for the welded aluminium tube business (Alutubes), while the extrusion business unit was renamed Sapa RC Profiles in January 2004.

The RC System construction business is currently the core of Sapa Building System.

link Sapa Building System