History
Stemcor was originally established under the name of Coutinho, Caro & Co (London) Ltd in 1951 as a joint venture between Hans Oppenheimer and a German trading company, Coutinho, Caro & Co. The German company was bought in 1984 by J McDermott. Hans Oppenheimer died in 1985, at which time the ownership of his 50% stake in the London company passed to his four daughters and his only son, Ralph Oppenheimer.
Subsequently McDermott felt they had made a mistake in investing in a trading company and decided to exit from their investment. In 1987, Ralph Oppenheimer began to negotiate the purchase on behalf of his family of the 50% stake in the London company held by McDermott. A condition of this agreement was that the London company changed its name and this was all completed in February 1988 when the name ‘Stemcor’ was born. The name was loosely based on STEel Marketing CORporation.
Date
Event
2012
Acquired SteelTeam service centre in Finland, renamed Stemcor Finland
2011
Acquired engineering steel stockholder Nickelloy LLC in the USA
Acquired Semimetais service centre in Portugal
Acquired stainless distributor Stainless Imports in the UK
Acquired Servichap service centre in Spain
Acquired a one third interest in USS service centre in the UK
Acquired Zimmer Staal stockholder in Belgium
2010
Stemcor de Mexico established.
Stemcor Trading Shanghai established.
Opened liaison office in Norway.
2009
Forged an alliance with Deutsche Bank to trade steel derivatives.
2008
Completed the acquisition of Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation, an iron ore and manganese mine in Orissa, India.
Acquired Ferrosource in the USA, a pig iron and scrap distributor.
Acquired Barclay & Mathieson Limited, a general steel stockholder with 12 depots in the UK.
2007
Acquired Steel Plate & Sections Ltd (SPS), a UK-based stockholder specialising in high value steel plate for the offshore oil and gas industry.
Established Stemcor Risk Management AG and placed its first steel futures contracts on the Dubai and London metal exchanges.
Disposed of 90% of its holding in the Savage River iron ore mine and invested in Brahmani River Pellets in India.
Turnover exceeds £4bn.
2006
Acquired Schmolz + Bickenbach Flachstahl GmbH and Otto Knauf Stahl GmbH in Germany.
Acquired Global Market Services (GMS) in the USA and increased stake in Kenilworth Steel to 100%.
Worldwide presence of 60 offices.
2005
Stemcor Europe AG established in Zug, Switzerland.
Acquired Savage River iron ore mine in Australia.
Tonnes traded exceed 15m.
2004
WSK Stahlhandels GmbH (Germany) and its processing arm, S&W RohrTech, join the Stemcor Group.
Sterling Metal Traders (UK) joins the Stemcor Group.
Acquired 1/3 interest in Kenilworth Steel in the USA.
2001
Stemcor moves to new London headquarters and celebrates 50 years of business.
2000
Herbert Edmonds retires.
Turnover exceeds £1 billion.
Tonnes traded exceed 8m.
1999
Worldwide presence of 30 offices.
1998
Samac Steel Supplies (UK) joins the Stemcor Group.
1996
Stemcor's interests in South Africa merged into a joint venture with Barloworld under the name of Stemcor S.A.
1995
Stemcor expands rapidly with 13 new offices worldwide.
1993
Stemcor Trade Finance Limited established as a countertrade service organisation.
1990
ASD stockholding business sold to Usinor of France.
1989
Stemcor USA established.
1988
CCC London company name changed to Stemcor.
Stemcor Dusseldorf and Stemcor SEA established.
1987
UK shareholders purchase the shares in CCC London from McDermott International.
1986
L.W. Lambourn acquired.
1985
CCC London awarded the Queen's Award for Export.
1984
CCC Germany acquired by McDermott International.
1982
Ralph Oppenheimer appointed Chairman of CCC London and Herbert Edmonds Deputy Chairman.
1977
Associated Steel Distributors (ASD) formed as a holding company for UK stockholding interests.
1972
CCC Sydney established.
Joint venture company (Protea International) established in South Africa.
Ralph Oppenheimer and Herbert Edmonds appointed joint Managing Directors.
1970
First UK steel stockholding depot opened in London.
1963
Eurosteel established to expand the UK import business.
1951
Coutinho Caro and Co. (London) Ltd (CCC London) established as joint venture between its founder, H.A. Oppenheimer, and CCC Germany.