Cemex

CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V.

Type	Public
Traded as	: CEMEX : CX BVC: CLH : CHP
Industry	Building materials
Founded	1906; 111 years ago (1906)
Headquarters	Monterrey, Mexico
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Rogelio Zambrano Lozano (Chairman) Fernando A. Gonzalez (CEO) Jose A. Gonzalez (CFO)
Products	cement, ready-mix concrete, construction aggregates
Revenue	US$ 15.7 billion (2014)
Net income	US$ 507 million (2014)
Total assets	US$ 34.9 billion (2014)
Number of employees	44,000
Website	www.cemex.com

CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries. It is the second largest building materials company worldwide, only after LafargeHolcim.

Lorenzo Zambrano was the chairman and chief executive officer until his death on May 21, 2014. About one-third of the company's sales come from its Mexico operations, a quarter from its plants in the U.S., 15% from Spain, and smaller percentages from its plants around the world.

CEMEX currently operates on four continents, with 66 cement plants, 2,000 ready-mix-concrete facilities, 400 quarries, 260 distribution centers and 80 marine terminals. The company's world headquarters are in San Pedro Garza García, a city that is part of the Monterrey metropolitan area in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León.

CEMEX was founded with the opening of Cementos Hidalgo, in 1906. Meanwhile, Cementos Portland Monterrey began operations in 1920, and in 1931, the two companies merged, becoming Cementos Mexicanos, now CEMEX. In the 1960s, CEMEX grew significantly when it acquired several more plants throughout Mexico. In 1976, the company went public on the Mexican stock exchange, and that same year, became the largest cement producer in Mexico with the purchase of three plants from Cementos Guadalajara. In 1982, the company made significant progress in overseas markets, doubling its exports. Further acquisitions of Mexican cement companies were made in 1987 and 1989, making CEMEX one of the ten largest cement companies in the world.

In 2004, CEMEX received the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for their creative and efficient use of information technology.

In 1992, CEMEX began its push into the international landscape with the purchase of Spain's two largest cement companies, Valenciana de Cementos (Valcem, currently head of CEMEX Spain) and Cementos SANSON. Venezuela's largest cement company, VENCEMOS, was acquired by CEMEX in 1994, and plants were purchased the same year in the United States and in Panama. In 1995 CEMEX acquired a cement company in the Dominican Republic, and with the purchase of a majority stake in a Colombian cement company in 1996, CEMEX became the third largest cement company in the world. In 1997-1999, the company expanded its scope to include Asia and Africa, making major purchases in the Philippines, Indonesia and Egypt, as well as Costa Rica. The acquisition of U.S. based Southdown made CEMEX the largest cement company in North America, and further international purchases were made in the following two years—a Thai company in 2001, and in 2002, a Puerto Rican company.