Empresas Copec S.A. is a spectacular publicly-traded conglomerate in Chile engaged in three primary activities of operation including forestry, fuel distribution and fishing. Moreover, to narrate the story of its founding we have to go back to the late 1940s when the late Anacleto Angelini Fabbri, an Italian immigrant who fought in Ethiopia during World War II, arrived in Chile with enough savings to buy and install machinery in order to establish a paint making business in Santiago. Soon after, transitioning to residential real estate development in the 1950s, he found good luck in the fishing industry in the far north zone of Chile in the 1960s. In fact, this operation grew into a state-of-the-art and vertically integrated fishing operation containing a sizable fleet of fishing vessels, fishing nets, crane equipment and fish processing facilities producing two thirds of the entire fish-meal output of the far north zone in Chile while employing around 6,000 fishermen at the time back then. Delegating the day-to-day running of the business with his brother Gino, Anacleto Angelini Fabbri, who was nicknamed during his life in Chile as “Don Cleto”, returned to the Chilean capital to concentrate on the big picture and incursion in other areas of interest. Accordingly, his big breakthrough came in 1986 when he acquired control of the old-established company in Chile known as Compañía de Petróleos de Chile S.A., better known by its acronym as Copec S.A. The latter had a market leadership in the fuel distribution business throughout the nation while propelling the entrance of his group into other areas of operation such as forestry.
Today, Empresas Copec is a gigantic conglomerate expanding rapidly across the whole continent. Its areas of operation encompass forestry, gas stations, convenience stores, diesel distribution, jet fuel distribution, pipelines, liquified natural gas storage and distribution, propane gas distribution, gas utilities, lubricants, fishing, copper mining, coal mining, food processing and residential real estate development. Altogether, the company employs close to 40,000 associates and leads the fuel distribution business in Chile after owning over 600 gas stations there under its wholly-owned subsidiary known as Combustibles Copec S.A. along with leadership in the same industry in Colombia. Meanwhile, it currently generates over $ 20 billion a year in consolidated sales. It is also the second largest radiata pine player worldwide after International Paper Company Corporation and has a strong presence in the eucalyptus pulp market as well. In fact, its product line in the forestry business includes saw logs, radiata pine logs, eucalyptus pulp, bleached kraft pulp, unbleached kraft pulp, plywood panels, lumber and wood panels. Known as Celulosa Arauco y Constitución S.A., the wholly-owned forestry subsidiary has over one million hectares of pine and eucalyptus plantations in Chile including the ones the company owns in neighboring Argentina while reporting close to $ 10 billion a year in sales. The wholly-owned fuel distribution subsidiary, on the other hand, reports close to $ 8 billion a year in sales from undergoing a tremendous expansion over the past decade after purchasing the biggest gas station player in Colombia known as Terpel S.A. in two separate transactions while disbursing a total of $ 554 million between 2010 and 2012. The latter operates close to 2,000 gas stations in Colombia alone and more than 400 gas stations in Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Mexico. Accordingly, the huge presence of the gas station business throughout the region was enhanced markedly by buying the local operations of ExxonMobil Corporation in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in 2018 for a reported $ 715 million. Similarly, Empresas Copec entered the American market by buying gas station and convenience store operator Mapco Corporation for $ 535 million in 2016 while running over 300 locations inside a handful of southern states here in the US.
Furthermore, in the fishing industry, the conglomerate controls Orizon S.A. with business activities of incursion ranging from mussel farming to production of canned salmon, tuna, sardine, Chilean jack mackerel, avocado, lentils, rice, beans and processed foods like Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Betty Crocker baking mixes after buying the local operations in Chile of General Mills Corporation. Likewise, the conglomerate controls the second largest fish-oil operation globally known as Golden Omega S.A. and participates in the ownership of leading Chilean fish-meal integrated concern Corpesca S.A. Other business activities of incursion the group is involved with includes full ownership of Chilean liquified natural gas player Abastible S.A. and several other energy related investments throughout the subcontinent including control of the biggest pipeline company in Chile known as Sonacol S.A. In addition, the conglomerate is active in residential real estate development after running the biggest developer in the seaside resort city of Viña del Mar and mining. The latter consists of a copper mining operation in Chile owned in its entirety known as Alxar Minería S.A., control of a coal mining operation in Southern Chile known as Mina Invierno S.A. and participation in a copper mining concession in Peru known as Marcobre S.A.C. owned jointly with Peruvian tin mining champion Minsur S.A.
To conclude, the colossal conglomerate today is led by billionaire Roberto Angelini Rossi, nephew of the late “Don Cleto”, who oversees the establishment as Chairman of the entity. Exercising control of the entity while sharing ownership through a listed holding company in Chile known as AntarChile S.A. with his sister Patricia Angelini Rossi along with additional minority investors, the conglomerate is well positioned to retain hegemony in its three key areas of operation. In fact, the conglomerate competes head on with the Matte clan in forestry and competes also with the Luksic clan in both copper mining and the gas station business in Chile. Likewise, Empresas Copec competes head on with the Romero clan in Peru after having a solid presence there as well through its wholly-owned Terpel gas station subsidiary. Accordingly, we are talking about a vast and solid conglomerate with tentacles everywhere raising the eyebrows of local heavy hitters after having won ground from them in business activities that happen to be strategic in nature in their respective markets or territories. Altogether, Roberto Angelini Rossi has been doing an excellent job managing and expanding a huge and listed conglomerate that happens to be an exporting champion, multinational and the single largest company in Chile in terms of sales after being ahead of the state-owned copper miner itself known as CODELCO. As a consequence, these features catapult the story of Empresas Copec as one of incredible and robust success in the region being the accomplishment of the late Anacleto Angelini Fabbri who passed the torch to his nephew and niece as rightful heirs with great responsibility to maintain and streamline what has been accomplished with business acumen and perseverance.