Company History

Strategic expansion of the coatings business

KANSAI HELIOS becomes the new owner of WEILBURGER Coatings and its group companies in Germany, Italy, France, Turkey, USA, Brazil, India and China. WEILBURGER Coatings is known for non-stick coatings, high temperature coatings, railway coatings and specialty coatings, with more than 120 years of tradition and its headquarters in Weilburg (Germany) with about 600 employees.

Strategic expansion of the powder coatings business

KANSAI HELIOS becomes the new owner of CWS Lackfabrik GmbH (“CWS”) and its group companies in Germany, USA, Denmark and Poland. CWS is a well-known powder coatings and liquid as well as solid synthetic resins producer, with more than 150 years of tradition and its headquarters in Düren (Germany) with around 250 employees.

Two new brands join the KANSAI HELIOS family

HELIOS Srbija becomes the new owner of the brand Zorka Color.

KANSAI HELIOS Group completes the acquisition of all assets, including all business activities, brands and employees, of Westdeutsche Farben GmbH (“wefa”) and names it´s new daughter in Essen, Germany, KANSAI HELIOS Wefa.

We are the new KANSAI HELIOS Group

With KANSAI PAINT, as one of the top paint & coatings manufacturers worldwide, and Helios Group as a specialist for paint & coatings, synthetic resins, adhesives and speciality chemicals in Europe, we are pooling our entire wealth of experience and combining our strengths in production, technology, research & development and environmental and sustainability management in Europe under the new corporate brand name “KANSAI HELIOS”.

Helios, Member of a Global Coatings Group

With the closing of transaction on 31 March 2017, Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. acquires the European Coatings Group Helios. Under the strategic owner KANSAI PAINT, Helios represents the European center of innovation, know-how and business development, and therefore further grows its importance in the European coatings industry.

Slovene Helios group merged with Austrian group

The Austrian RIH Group becomes a strategic partner and a new majority shareholder of the Slovene coatings group Helios. Two years of consolidation follow. The new, enlarged European Coatings Group Helios consist of companies and manufactures located in 18 countries worldwide and is an umbrella for many renowned brands. The group operates among the top 10 coatings companies in Europe and maintains the vision to become one of the greatest coating companies in Europe.

The era of acquisitions for RIH

Until 2010 RIH acquires and integrates important coating companies with long tradition: Iris Lacke in Austria (2007), Christ Lacke in Austria (2007), Fritze Lacke in Austria (2008), Ecopolifix in Italy (2009), Rembrandtin CZ in Czech (2009) and Farbexperte in Austria (2010).

The era of acquisitions for Helios group

From 2001 to 2007 Helios acquires big coating companies and therefore gained important market shares in ex-Yugoslavian markets and the CIS region: Chromos in Croatia (2001), Zvezda in Serbia (2003), Color Medvode in Slovenia (2004), Odilak in Russia (2006), Belinka in Slovenia (2007) and Avrora in Ukraine (2007).

Austrian Rembrandtin joins RIH

Austrian Rembrandtin is acquired by Ring International Holding (RIH), which marks the start for their second business pillar, the RIH Coatings Division.

Helios becomes Joint Stock Company

Helios registers in the Register of Companies and becomes a joint stock company. The first general meeting of shareholders of Helios was held on 26th June 1996.

Focus on Synthetic Resins

Helios prioritizes the expansion of its synthetic resins capacity with the associated infrastructure. The construction of a modern production facility for synthetic resins will simultaneously enable the construction of a building for the production of pigment coatings.

The Name “Helios”

After the company went through numerous status and organizational changes in after war period it finally became independent and changed its name to Helios, Tovarna lakov Domžale (Helios, The varnish factory Domžale).

The Beginnings of Rembrandtin in Austria

Julius Seidler acquires a small paint factory from the Dutch company Varossieau & Cie in Donaufelderstrass, which was renamed to Rembrandtin in 1947. The name was inspired by a label showing the famous painter, Rembrandt.

The Beginnings of Helios in Slovenia

Helios dates back to 1924 when the joint stock company Ljudevit Marx, Tovarna lakov Domžale was founded. This was the start of paints and lacquers production in for the time being advanced, industrial way, for the domestic and foreign market.

The Beginnings of Fritze Lacke in Austria

Otto Fritze opens his company “Hetzendorfer Lack-, Farben- und Firniß-Fabrik O. Fritze” not knowing to which fame the brand will make it in Austria.

The Beginnings of CWS in Germany

Conrad Wilhelm Schmidt founds CWS in Düsseldorf, Germany.