, Germany, near the
Rhine River (picture taken in the 1960s) The original Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke AG (VDM) was founded in 1930 by the takeover of
Heddernheimer Kupferwerk and Süddeutsche Kabelwerk AG in Frankfurt by
Berg-Heckmann-Selve AG in Altena. The merger took place on the initiative of
Metallgesellschaft, which was the main shareholder of Heddernheimer Kupferwerke since 1893 and also took over the majority of the new corporate group. The global economic crisis had forced a consolidation of previously competing companies. The new company had a share capital of 30 million
Reichsmark and had branches and manufacturing facilities in
Heddernheim,
Gustavsburg,
Mannheim,
Nuremberg,
Cologne and in Altena, Werdohl and Duisburg. The group's companies remained independent under their previous name (e. g. Heddernheimer Kupferwerk GmbH), but the production program was redistributed by material group to the individual plants. In March 1934, VDM moved its headquarters to
Frankfurt am Main. The incipient rearmament of the
Wehrmacht skyrocketed the demand for light metal products. By 1939, the number of employees at VDM rose to 21,000, mainly due to the production of variable pitch propellers for aircraft of the
Luftwaffe.
After 1945 Because of the great importance of the VDM for the
war economy, almost all buildings and factories were heavily destroyed in the air raids on Frankfurt am Main during the
Second World War. At the end of the war, the production collapsed completely, all works were shut down at the direction of the Allies and partly dismantled. It was not until 1946, under the leadership of Wilhelm Kirmser, that the gradual reconstruction and transition to civilian production began. In the early 1950s, VDM became the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of raw, semi-finished and finished
non-ferrous metals and alloys. The upswing reached its peak in the financial year 1960/61. Thereafter, the company continuously lost market share.
The crisis years after 1966 Already for 1966/67 no dividend could be paid to shareholders. A major cause of the difficulties was the fragmented corporate structure of six separate companies, which did not allow a consistent strategy and investment. In 1969, the plant in Cologne was shut down and the remaining works were combined into seven business units: • Copper and copper alloys • Conducting materials • Prefabricated parts • Nickel and special materials • Light metal • Plastics processing • Packaging solutions Despite the restructuring and some acquisitions in the 1970s, sales continued to decline. The company reacted with rationalization measures, a reorientation of the production strategy, the sale of individual company shares and the closure of unprofitable production units and plants. This reduced the number of employees from 14,200 (1970) to 6,700 in 1979. After a dramatic deterioration of the results in the financial year 1980/81, the parent plant in Frankfurt-Heddernheim was closed after 129 years on 31 March 1982. At this point in time, only the plants of the business area nickel (Altena, Unna and Werdohl) were still productive. In the following years, VDM gradually separated from all remaining production facilities and changed its name to MG Vermögensverwaltung AG in 1988.
Post-1988 history In 1988 the German steelmaker
Krupp took over one third, one year later 100 percent of the shares in the
VDM Nickel Technologie AG. This division was formed from the merger of the Werdohl and Altena plants into the business area nickel in 1974. In the following years Krupp VDM - as the company was called - initially took over
Precision Rolled Products (PRP) with production sites in New Jersey and Nevada and, on 1 October 2009, the activities of the sister company
ThyssenKrupp Titanium. From then on, VDM became part of the ThyssenKrupp stainless steel division and operated under the name
ThyssenKrupp VDM until 2012. ; Outokumpu interlude Following the sale of the stainless steel division of ThyssenKrupp to
Outokumpu in December 2012, VDM temporarily traded under the name Outokumpu VDM. At the end of November 2013 it was announced that VDM would be re-integrated into the ThyssenKrupp Group. Since 1 March 2014, VDM had once again been part of the ThyssenKrupp Group and has since been trading under the independent name of
VDM Metals. ; Goldberg years In April 2015, ThyssenKrupp announced the sale of the VDM Group to the financial investor
Lindsay Goldberg. On 1 August 2015, the sale was completed. ; Acerinox ownership In November 2019, the Spanish stainless steel producer
Acerinox announced the signing of a share-purchase-agreement to acquire VDM Metals. After approval through the competent antitrust authorities the deal was closed in March 2020. == Inventions and material developments ==