Cemex

Our mission is to serve the global building needs of our customers and build value for our stakeholders by becoming the world's most efficient and profitable cement company. Our strategy is to: Focus on our core cement and ready-mix concrete franchise in the international markets we serve; Primarily concentrate on the world's most dynamic markets, where the demand for housing, roads and other needed infrastructure is greatest; Maintain high growth by applying free cash flow toward selective investments that further our geographic diversification. Cementos Hidalgo is established near Monterrey in northern Mexico and begins operating a cement plant. Lorenzo Zambrano opens a cement plant in Monterrey through his newly founded firm, Cementos Portland Monterrey. The two companies merge to form Cementos Mexicanos, later known as Cemex; firm is based in Monterrey. Cemex goes public; it becomes the largest cement maker in Mexico following the acquisition of Cementos Guadalajara's three plants. The founder's grandson, also named Lorenzo Zambrano, is named chairman and CEO; the new leader embarks on an ambitious program of expansion. Acquisition of Cementos Tolteca, the number two cement producer in Mexico, gives Cemex 65 percent of the Mexican market and makes it one of the ten largest cement companies in the world. The company buys the two largest cement companies in Spain, Valenciana and Sanson, for $1.84 billion. Cemex makes its first direct investment in Asia, purchasing a 30 percent stake in Rizal Cement Company, Inc. of the Philippines. The second largest U.S. cement producer, Houston-based Southdown, Inc., is acquired for $2.63 billion. CEMEX S.A. de C.V. (Cemex) is the third largest cement producer in the world, trailing only France's Lafarge S.A. and Switzerland's Holcim Ltd., and holds leading positions in cement in Mexico, the United States, Spain, Egypt, the Philippines, and a number of Latin American countries. Operating as a small regional player in Mexico for much of its history, Cemex embarked on an aggressive global expansion program in the early 1990s, completing a string of acquisitions in targeted markets. By the early 2000s, the company had amassed an impressive international portfolio of operations within more than 30 countries on four continents, with revenues breaking down as follows: 34 percent, Mexico; 24 percent, United States; 14 percent, Spain; 7 percent, Central America and the Caribbean; 4 percent, Venezuela; 3 percent, Colombia; 2 percent, Egypt; 2 percent, Philippines; and 10 percent, other countries. Cemex's primary markets are in countries with a great need for infrastructure and a growing demand for housing. In addition to cement, which comprises about 76 percent of revenues, the company also produces and distributes ready-mix concrete (21 percent) and clinker (3 percent), an intermediate cement product made from limestone, clay, and iron oxide. Cemex holds the distinction of being the world's largest trader of cement, based on its trade relations with more than 60 nations. Its more than 50 wholly owned cement plants worldwide have an annual capacity of 80.9 million metric tons, and the company has nearly 500 ready-mix concrete plants. Cemex traces its origins to 1906, when Cementos Hidalgo was founded near Monterrey in northern Mexico; it began operating a cement plant with a capacity of 5,000 metric tons per year. In 1920 Lorenzo Zambrano established Cementos Portland Monterrey and began operating a 20,000-metric-ton cement plant in nearby Monterrey. Zambrano engineered the 1931 merger of these two companies, creating Cementos Mexicanos, later known as Cemex. The firm was headquartered in Monterrey, where its head offices remained through the early 2000s. Cemex remained a small, local company for the next 35 years. It adopted a regional profile in 1966-67 when it acquired a plant in Mérida, Yucatán, from Cementos Maya and also constructed new plants in Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí; an