On 25th January 1958, A.R.C.O.^®-CHEMIE GmbH was founded in Hagen-Dahl under the name of ‘Reintorff Chemie' by the couple Cornelius and Lieselothe Souverein.

One year later Mrs. Souverein sold her shares to Mr. Arthour Loose and to Schulte Herbrüggen which was later registrated as the Zirkulin Werke GmbH.
In this context the firm name ‘Reintorff Chemie' changed into ARCO^® CHEMIE a composition of the two names Arthur Loose and Cornelius Souverein.

In 1961, after Mr. Souverein´s death. the Zirkulin Werke GmbH bought the shares , Mrs. Souverein inherited and ARCO^® became its 100% subsidiary.

In 1984 the former general manager Hella Appl who is the first general manager´s daughter sold the Zirkulin Werke GmbH as well as the subsidiary ARCO^® to ROHA Arzneimittel GmbH & Co KG.
Mr. Georgios Zacharopoulos Dipl. Chem. Ing., who had been the production manager for long years, rebought A.R.C.O. ^® - CHEMIE GmbH and the location Herdecke got a sound company with 30 employees at that time.

In the following years ARCO^® was considerably modernized and got the WHO-GMP approval for the first time in 1986.

Between 1989 to 1991 and 1997 to 1999 the production plant was largely extended and has continuously been modernized up to now in order to meet the high quality level of ARCO^®.