Heidelberg Materials AG

History

Year	Detail
1873	Johann Philipp Schifferdecker founded Heidelberg Materials Ag in 1873 by starting to produce Portland cement in Germany.
1874	The companies Portland-Cement-Werk Heidelberg and Schifferdecker & Sohne are entered into the commercial register as a general partnership.
1899 - 1913	Portland Cement Werk Heidelberg expanded through acquisition of additional cement, limestone, gypsum plants in southern Germany. In 1901 Portland Cement Werke Heidelberg and Mannheimer Portland Cement Fabrik AG companies got merged.
1934 - 1938	The company has made extensive investments at the plants to improve productivity and increase capacity. Shipping in paper sacks has become the standard.
1960 - 1972	Portland Cement Werk Heidelberg begins takeovers of German cement producers. In 1963, the company entered international market by acquiring a stake in a French cement plant.
1977	The company acquired Lehigh to enter the North American market.
1980 - 1989	Under CEO Peter Schumacher, the company enters a number of new business lines like Cement, Concrete, Construction Materials, Lime-gypsum-plaster, Building Elements, Plastic Engineering-printing-paper, and Transport.
1989 - 1996	In order to expand activities to other potentially high-growth markets, a 40% stake is acquired in Belgian building materials manufacturer Cimenteries CBR S.A., which is later increased to 100%. In 1995, the company invested in China Century Cement Ltd., followed by the founding of the Akcansa joint venture in Turkey the following year.
1999	The acquisition of Swedish building materials group Scancem. This company is the sole provider in Norway, Sweden, Estonia countries. Heidelberger Zement also expands its activities in the European dry mortar market through the acquisition of maxit Holding GmbH.
2000 - 2002	The company continues to expand, acquiring majority stakes in cement plants throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia.
2002	The company name is internationalized to become "HeidelbergCement."
2005	Merckle Group acquires nearly 80% of HeidelbergCement shares. The company also invested in ready-mixed concrete and aggregates and also ented new markets like Kazakhstan, Georgia, and India.
2007	HeidelbergCement completes the largest-ever merger in the building materials sector with its acquisition of U.K.-based Hanson plc.
2008 - 2010	HeidelbergCement undergoes an organizational restructuring. Operations are now divided into five geographical and four business lines.
2016	HeidelbergCement AG completed the acquisition of a 45% shareholding in Italcementi S.p.A. Heidelberg Materials enters new important markets, such as France and Italy in Europe, Egypt and Morocco in North Africa, and Thailand in Southeast Asia.