Southdown Cement

Company History: Southdown was a cement making company that was acquired in 2000 by Cemex. Southdown was based in Houston, TX. The acquisition at $2.6 billion represented the biggest-ever (at the time) acquisition by a Mexican company that would capture a prize U.S. asset in an industry that is consolidating globally.

Southdown was one of the largest producers of cement and ready-mix concrete in the United States, Southdown, Inc. was also regarded as one of the industry's most efficient and modern producers. With eight manufacturing plants in California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, Southdown had distinguished itself as a leading competitor in an industry of vital importance to the construction industry, particularly large-scale public works projects. During the mid-1990s, more than half of the company's annual revenues and a substantially larger proportion of its operating earnings were generated from the production of cement, the primary binding agent in concrete. Southdown is also involved in the production of ready-mixed concrete, a building material used in myriad construction activities and the end-product of roughly 70 percent of the cement used in the United States. By gradually narrowing its focus on the production and marketing of these two products from the mid-1970s forward, Southdown established a solid position for itself in crucial cement and concrete markets across the country, particularly in Florida and southern California.

Southdown was founded as Realty Operators, Inc. in the spring of 1930, beginning its corporate life in Louisiana as a sugar cane grower during the incipient stages of the United States' greatest economic calamity. The company survived the decade-long ravages of the Great Depression, spending its formative years in the crucible of economic turmoil, then rallied forward through the United States' greatest military effort, withstanding the disruptive yet economically vibrant years of the Second World War. In 1948, three years after the conclusion of the war, Realty Operators changed its name to Southdown Sugars, Inc., borrowing the Southdown name from the Southdown sugar cane plantation in Houma, Louisiana. Over the course of the next 20 years, Southdown Sugars increased its stature as a sugar cane company, benefitting from the most advantageous economic conditions since its formation. The company changed its name again in 1959 to Southdown, Inc., prophetically dropping "Sugars" from its corporate title as it prepared to enter the 1960s, the last decade the company would rely exclusively on sugar cane cultivation and production to drive its growth.

Successor/Parent History: CEMEX is a global building materials company that provides high quality products and reliable service to customers and communities throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. We produce, distribute, and sell cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and related building materials in more than 50 countries, and we maintain trade relationships in close to 100 nations. CEMEX’s U.S. network includes 11 cement plants, more than 50 strategically located distribution terminals, 50 aggregate quarries and nearly 270 ready-mix concrete plants. CEMEX USA was named the EPA Energy Star Partner of the Year for 2009 and 2010.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.