Refco

What Refco does

Refco (Morehouse Refco nv) is a Belgian contract manufacturer founded in 1988 and headquartered in Malle, Belgium, specialising in the mechanical shaping and brazing of copper tubes, with additional capability in stainless steel, aluminum, and metal-reinforced copper for CO2 applications. The company's offering centres on eight integrated tube-processing services — sawing, mandrel bending up to 108 mm diameter with radii as tight as 1.2x pipe diameter, tube collaring, spinning, end forming, gas-burner brazing above 600°C, parts and semi-finished product assembly, and multi-material processing — combined per customer into bespoke semi-finished assemblies rather than sold as a standard catalogue. Production relies on a modern European machine park (mandrel bending machines, automatic collaring machines, gas-burner brazing stations) supplemented by in-house production of bending tools and jigs, executed by a long-tenured team of specialised brazing operators.

Refco serves B2B OEMs across nine industrial verticals, with refrigeration and machine building as primary segments and refrigerated display counters, industrial vehicles, pharmaceutical, agricultural, graphic, heating, and medical as secondary segments. Customers are typically located within an 8-hour transit radius of the Belgian facility, and Refco operates direct sales channels (phone, email, contact form) complemented by participation in national and international trade fairs. The business model is quote-based custom manufacturing paired with recurring logistics agreements (just-in-time, kanban, call-off delivery, annual supply contracts), where Refco bundles manufactured workpieces with purchased small parts into total packages to reduce customer inventory and administrative burden.

The legal entity Morehouse Refco nv is a Belgian Naamloze Vennootschap registered under company number 0433.517.942, with no disclosed parent company, external investors, funding rounds, or shareholder structure. The firm operates as the manufacturing arm of the Morehouse Refco group, whose sister division Morehouse develops complete cooling and heating solutions including compressed air dryers, process cooling systems, and heat pumps. Refco positions itself as an independent, dynamic, and high-performance contract manufacturer functioning as a knowledge centre and extension of customer production, with pricing competitive on price, quality, and delivery reliability, though no list prices, public revenue, or quantitative growth metrics are disclosed.

Name

Refco

Legal name

Morehouse Refco nv

Website

https://refco.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Refco (Morehouse Refco nv) is a Belgian contract manufacturer founded in 1988 that performs custom mechanical shaping and brazing of copper, stainless steel, and aluminum tubes for B2B OEMs in refrigeration, machine building, and adjacent industrial verticals across Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Custom metal tube fabrication and brazing services

NAICS

All Other Industrial Machinery Manufacturing (333248), Boiler, Tank, and Shipping Container Manufacturing (3324)

SIC

Misc Industrial & Commercial Machinery & Equipment (3590), Wholesale-Machinery, Equipment & Supplies (5080)

akta.pro primary industry

IBC Accessories & Components (Valves, Caps, Pallets, Liners) (IMALAGAF)

Keywords

• Custom copper tube shaping
• Tube brazing services
• Metal tube fabrication
• Refrigeration tube parts
• Industrial tube bending

Headquarters

HQ city

Melle

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Custom (project-based) manufacturing: Project-based custom manufacturing of copper, aluminum, and stainless steel tube parts and semi-finished products. Customers request quotations and Refco produces per order, including design assistance and in-house tool/mould production. Mix of small series and complex projects.
2. Stock & logistics services (Just-in-time / Kanban / Call-off): Refco holds current tubes and parts in stock and offers delivery-on-demand, production-by-order, and annual supply agreements. Logistics services include just-in-time, kanban, call-off delivery, and production-to-order models.
3. Hardware sales (semi-finished products & parts): Sale of manufactured semi-finished products, custom tubes, and assembled parts to B2B customers in Belgium and abroad across refrigeration, machine building, industrial vehicles, pharmaceutical, agro, graphic, heating, and medical industries.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Refco (Morehouse Refco nv) is a Belgian contract manufacturer that produces custom-shaped copper tube parts and semi-finished products for industrial customers. Its core work combines mechanical tube shaping (sawing, mandrel bending, tube collaring, spinning, end forming) with brazing and welding of assembled components. It also handles aluminum, brass, stainless steel, and multi-material combinations, and complements production with warehousing, Kanban supply, and just-in-time delivery via its own transport fleet.

Product overview

Refco (Morehouse Refco nv) operates a single integrated manufacturing offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The offering is built around eight core tube-processing services: Sawing, Bending, Tube collaring, Spinning, End forming, Brazing & welding, Parts & semi-finished products, and the "More than copper" stainless-steel and aluminum capability. These services are combined per customer into custom-made semi-finished products and assembled sub-assemblies for the refrigeration, machine building, industrial vehicles, pharmaceutical, agricultural, graphic, heating, and medical industries. Through its sister division Morehouse, the group extends the offering with total solutions for cold and heat applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Refco: Brand used for the copper and aluminium tube processing, mechanical shaping, and brazing business (sawing, bending, tube collaring, spinning, end forming, brazing & welding, parts & semi-finished products).
• Morehouse

Products and services

• Custom Tube Shaping Services Mechanical shaping of copper, aluminum, brass, and stainless-steel tubes per customer drawings, combining sawing, mandrel bending, tube collaring, spinning, and end forming as selectable operations on a single part.
• Tube Bending (Mandrel Bending) Precision mandrel bending of metal tubes to customer-specified radii and geometries, used in refrigeration lines, vehicle fluid systems, and process equipment.
• Tube Collaring Collapsing or expanding tube ends to create collars for subsequent brazed or mechanical joining, used to prepare tubes for header connections in heat exchangers and similar assemblies.
• Tube Spinning Spinning of tube ends and components to form seamless transitions, flares, or reduced and expanded sections for assembly and connection purposes.
• End Forming End forming of metal tubes to produce specific end geometries required for downstream joining, fitting insertion, or assembly into customer products.
• Tube Sawing Precision sawing of metal tubes to specified lengths as a standalone service or as a preparatory step in a custom fabrication order.
• Brazing and Welding of Tube Assemblies Brazing and welding of tube components into sub-assemblies, performed by an in-house team of approximately 70 experienced brazers. Delivers pressure-tight joints for refrigeration, vehicle, and process-equipment applications.
• Multi-Material Tube Fabrication Tube shaping and brazing in copper, aluminum, brass, stainless steel, and combinations of these materials, enabling customers to match thermal, mechanical, and corrosion requirements without changing supplier.
• Parts and Semi-Finished Products Delivery of shaped tubes and brazed sub-assemblies as finished parts or semi-finished products ready for integration into customer equipment.
• Warehousing, Kanban and Just-in-Time Logistics Bundled logistics service including customer-dedicated warehousing, Kanban-triggered supply, just-in-time delivery, and transport via Refco's own fleet, supporting recurring series production at customer sites.

Quantifiable outcome

• Customers within an 8-hour transit time radius receive deliveries shortly after production
• +5 more outcomes

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Halcor (Elval Colour / Viohalco): Halcor is one of Europe's largest copper tube producers, supplying HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, and industrial OEMs with a broad range of tubes and coils. Comparable to Refco as a copper tube supplier to refrigeration and industrial OEMs, but with significant scale advantages.
• Mueller Industries: Mueller Industries is a major North American manufacturer of copper, brass, and aluminium products, including copper tubes and fittings for HVAC and refrigeration. Comparable in copper-tube product category, but serving primarily US OEMs at much larger scale.
• KME Group: KME is a major European producer of copper and copper-alloy semi-finished products including tubes for HVAC, refrigeration, and industrial applications. It overlaps with Refco's copper-tube value proposition but serves a much wider customer base and product mix.
• Alfa Laval: Alfa Laval is a global leader in heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling, including brazed heat exchangers used in HVAC, refrigeration, and process cooling. Comparable to Refco in the sense that both supply brazed, copper-based thermal components to refrigeration and industrial OEMs, though Alfa Laval operates at vastly larger scale.
• Sandvik (Tube division): Sandvik manufactures stainless steel and high-alloy tubes for HVAC, refrigeration, and industrial heat-exchanger applications. Comparable to Refco's 'more than copper' stainless steel capability, but with broader materials coverage and global scale.
• Wieland Group: Wieland is one of Europe's largest manufacturers of semi-finished copper and copper-alloy products, including tubes, bars, and heat-exchanger materials used by refrigeration and HVAC OEMs. Comparable to Refco as a copper-tubes-to-OEMs supplier, but at vastly larger scale and broader portfolio.

Direct peers

• SWEP (Dover): SWEP is a leading global manufacturer of brazed plate heat exchangers (BPHEs), serving HVAC, refrigeration, and district heating OEMs with custom-engineered heat-transfer components. Directly comparable to Refco as a brazed-component supplier to refrigeration and heating OEMs using copper and stainless steel.
• Onda (Tube Processing / Custom Fabrication): Onda is an Italian custom copper and aluminium tube processing fabricator, offering bending, brazing and sub-assemblies for refrigeration and HVAC OEMs. Closely comparable to Refco in business model, scale, and customer verticals — a near-direct European peer in custom tube fabrication.

Emerging players

• Danfoss Cooling: Danfoss is a global supplier of cooling components and systems for HVAC, refrigeration, and industrial cooling, including heat exchangers and brazed sub-assemblies. Comparable to Refco in the refrigeration OEM value chain; partial overlap as Danfoss is broader and system-level, while Refco is component-level specialty.
• Zilmet (OEM heat exchangers): Zilmet manufactures brazed plate heat exchangers and pressure vessels for HVAC and refrigeration OEMs in Europe. Directly comparable to Refco as a custom brazed thermal-component supplier serving the same refrigeration OEM customer base, though typically at higher volumes per SKU.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/refco-nv

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Refco