Votorantim Industrial S.A. is a prominent and expanding Brazilian conglomerate. The story of this Brazilian heavy industry group of companies began when the late Antônio Pereira Inácio, a Portuguese immigrant who once used to shine shoes for a living when arriving in Brazil, decided to use his savings in order to establish himself in basic industry production and thanks to the advice of his son-in-law José Ermírio de Moraes after meeting each other on a trip to Portugal. Since then, back in 1918 when they first ran a textile mill in Brazil, this formidable privately-held conglomerate leads various key industries in Brazil such as cement, aluminum, base metals mining, orange juice and eucalyptus pulp. In fact, with total consolidated sales expected to surpass $ 15 billion this year as well as employing around 100,000 workers, the cement unit alone makes close to $ 5 billion a year in sales while the eucalyptus pulp business which trades in Brazil and known as Fibria Celulose S.A. makes nearly $ 5 billion a year in sales. In addition, after investing heavily in order to be self-sufficient in its energy consumption while controlling 31 hydroelectric plants and 4 thermoelectric plants, Votorantim sells its excess power capacity from its vast network of hydroelectric and thermoelectric plants comprising its wholly-owned subsidiary Votorantim Energia to CPFL Energia S.A. as well as Cemig S.A.
Moreover, the group recently merged its orange juice wholly-owned subsidiary known as Citrovita S.A. with local competitor Citrosuco Paulista S.A. after buying it and adopting its name and consequently, it now competes neck and neck Sucocítrico Cutrale Limitada comprising two thirds of the Brazilian orange juice production between the two of them. On the other hand, the group wholly owns the cement maker known as Votorantim Cimentos S.A., the aluminum smelter known as Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio S.A. with sales of approximately $ 3 billion a year, Votorantim Metais S.A. comprising lead, zinc and nickel mining, the orange juice producer known as Citrosuco Paulista S.A., Votorantim Energia S.A. and the steelmaker known as Votorantim Siderurgia S.A. while controlling Fibria Celulose S.A. and Banco Votorantim S.A. Accordingly, sharing ownership of Fibria Celulose with the Safra banking clan of Brazil after the merger of Votorantim Celulose e Papel S.A. and Aracruz Celulose S.A. a few years ago as well as sharing ownership of Banco Votorantim with the state-controlled Banco do Brasil S.A, the conglomerate is well positioned to add hegemony in industries such as cement, aluminum, base metals mining, orange juice and eucalyptus pulp in Brazil while at the same time including a sizable share of output to service the export market around the globe.
To conclude, the current Chairman of this flourishing family-owned conglomerate Antônio Ermírio de Moraes has steered the growth of the group efficiently and conveniently in key sectors of Brazil where the country possesses comparative advantages without ignoring expansion abroad like adding the biggest cement maker in the Canadian province of Ontario supplying ready-mix concrete to builders in the Great Lakes Region including several ones located here in America. Altogether, the conglomerate keeps on cementing good praises regarding performance after having minted four billionaires currently ranked by Forbes including Antônio Ermírio de Moraes, José Roberto Ermírio de Moraes, José Ermírio de Moraes Neto and Neide Helena de Moraes who all happen to share the fortune as members of the de Moraes clan in Brazil.