Annual Report 2011 Holcim Ltd

The restructuring of the market in
Switzerland also affected the Group’s
expansion policies. Thanks to its decades-old
holdings in the Société Suisse de
Ciment Portland SA, “Holderbank” was
able to gain a foothold in Northern Italy
and Croatia, while in the US increasing
its stake in its Holnam subsidiary from
95 to 100 percent. During the 1990s
Holnam profited from an unparalleled
American construction boom. Its plants
operated at full capacity for years at a
time, selling up to 15 million tonnes of
cement annually. During the decade, the Unión
Marítima Internacional S.A. in Madrid also rose to
become the world’s largest construction materials
trading company.
In 1995, “Holderbank” entered the Croatian market.
The boom in the US was supported by predominantly
stable Latin American markets. The Swiss were also
able to significantly expand their position in Brazil.
In Argentina “Holderbank” took a stake in Corcemar,
which in turn, thanks to a merger with Minetti, rose
to become the country’s second-largest cement
maker. Acquisitions in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala
and Panama, as well as a major investment
in Venezuela, all served to strengthen the already
nearly unassailable position of “Holderbank” in
Latin America. In 1993 these markets contributed 40
percent of “Holderbank” profits. During the decade,
management would ramp up overall capacity in the
flourishing and highly profitable South and Central
American “Holderbank” subsidiaries from 12 to 30
million tonnes of cement. Thanks to booming American
markets, the Group was able to push on with its
expansion into new regions. During the decade, in
Eastern Europe alone, it acquired participations in
Romania, Bulgaria and Russia and made acquisitions The Campulung plant in Romania.
in Serbia and Azerbaijan. It was able to re-enter the Egyptian market as well,
nearly 30 years after the Schmidheiny factories had been expropriated by
Nasser. The decade would also see the entry into a further North African country
with Morocco, while positions were built up in West Africa and the Indian
Ocean as well.
In Argentina, “Holderbank took a stake in Corcemar.
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