An almost 100 years old History
An exceptional location, offering the possibility of expeditions by land and sea, close to Setúbal on the River Sado and blessed with a rich seam of limestone and marl – these were ample reasons for a cement factory to open in the Arrábida mountain range, where materials had been mined since the 18th century.
As the result of the merger of two companies operating in the region, in 1930 Secil – Companhia Geral de Cal e Cimento – was established. Since those far off days in the first half of the 20th century, there have been many changes.
1994 and 2011 were milestones in the history of Secil. In 1994, Semapa acquired 51 % of the capital of Secil and 100 % of the capital of CMP. CMP – that stands for Cimentos Maceira e Pataias – owns the cement plants in Maceira-Liz and Cibra-Pataias. In 2011, Semapa acquired all remaining shares of Secil.
Some key events in the history of Secil.
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1904
Foundation of the Companhia de Cimentos de Portugal
Foundation of the Companhia de Cimentos de Portugal; installation of the cement plant of Outão in Setúbal, which started with two vertical furnaces with an annual production of 10,000 t.
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1923
Inauguration of the plant in Maceira
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1930
Incorporation of Secil
Incorporation of Secil – Companhia Geral de Cal e Cimento, S.A. as a result of the merger between Secil - Companhia Geral de Cal e Cimento, with the Danish companies F. L. Smidth & Co. and Hojgaard & Schultz, A/S.
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1950
Inauguration of the plant in Cibra-Pataias
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1975
Nationalization
As a results of the nationalization of the cement sector, Secil becomes a private company, with the government as majority shareholder.
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1978
Dry Process Launch
The first dry process furnace, with centralized and computerized control room, is put in place (800,000 t/year). With this investment, the growth in the demand and the need to cut production costs are served.
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1982
End of Wet Process
The old Vale da Rasca plant is decommissioned, bringing the wet production process to a definite end.
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1994/95
Privatization of Secil
By the privatization of the cement sector, Secil becomes again a completely private company. Semapa acquires 51% of Secil and the entire share capital of CMP, thus becoming the owner of the Maceira-Liz and Cibra-Pataias cement plants.
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1998
Outão Certification
SECIL awarded ISO 9002 quality certification and the SECIL-Outão plant awarded ISO 14001 environmental certification, the fourth plant in Europe to do so.
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2000
Tunisia
Acquisition of “Société des Ciments de Gabès”. This cement plant, that has been re-privatized by the Tunesian authorities, has a annual production capacity of 1.4 million ton cement.
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2002
Lebanon
Acquisition of a minority interest in “Ciments de Sibline”, a cement plant located south of Beirut.
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2003
Acquisition of all shares of Secil
Semapa acquires all remaining shares, that were owned by the Danish shareholders. By this acquisition, Semapa becomes the sole owner of the Secil’s capital.
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2004
Angola
Secil acquired 51% of the share capital of Encime, a cement plant located in Lobito bay, Angola.
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2004
Sale of shares to CRH
The Irish company CRH, one of the largest construction materials groups, bought 49% of the shares of Secil.
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2007
Lebanon – Madeira
Acquisition of a majority interest in Ciments de Sibline (Lebanon) and in Cimentos Madeira.
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2011
Acquisition of all shares from CRH
Semapa acquires the 49% interest from CRH, thus becoming the sole shareholder of Secil.
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2011
European Award for the Environment
Secil wins the European Awards for the Environment in the management category, an initiative of the European Commission.
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2012
Brazil
Secil acquires a minority interest in Supremo Cimento, Brazil.
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2015
Brazil
Secil acquires the entire share capital of Supremo Cimento. Furthermore, Secil builds the most modern cement plant in Brazil, located in Adrianópolis.
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2016
The Netherlands
Secil acquires a cement terminal in the south of Holland, near the Belgian border in the port of Terneuzen.
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2017
Spain
Secil acquires in Spain from LafargeHolcim a cement terminal, two stone quarries and thirteen ready-mixed concrete plants.