Multinational building materials company CEMEX manufactures and distributes cement to more than 50 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1906 in coordination with Cementos Hidalgo, a construction plant in Northern Mexico. The two merged into Cementos Mexicanos in 1931 and later rebranded as CEMEX.
The company expanded greatly in the 1980s with overseas exports of cement and quick-crete and began acquiring numerous, smaller cement companies. These acquisitions continued into the 90s with purchases such as the Panamanian Cemento Bayano and the leading cement company from the Dominican Republic, Cementos Nacionales, solidifying CEMEX as one of the top ten largest and most profitable cement companies in the world.
CEMEX has faced some governmental criticism of late, due partly to a WikiLeaks article outing the genuine market shares of the CEMEX company versus its competitors, as well as shining light onto its history of monopolising the industry.
