Argos (company)

Infobox Company
company_name = Cementos Argos
company_
vector_
company_type = Public
genre =
foundation = February 1934
founder =
location_city = Medellin
location_country = Colombia
location =
origins = Colombian
key_people = Jose Alberto Velez
area_served = flagicon|ColombiaColombia
flagicon|PanamaPanama
flagicon|United StatesUnited States
flagicon|HaitiHaiti
flagicon|Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
industry = Construction
products = Cement and concrete
revenue =
operating_income = US $3,430 billion (2006)
net_income = US $1,800 billion (2006)
num_employees = 10,000
parent = Inversiones Argos
divisions =
subsid = Concretos Argos
Southern Star Concrete, Inc.
Ready Mixed Concrete
Concrete Express
owner = Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño
company_slogan = 'Luz Verde'
homepage = [http://www.argos.com.co/ www.argos.com.co]
dissolved =
footnotes =

Argos is a leader in the Colombian cement industry, with 51 percent of market participation; it is the fourth largest cement producer in Latin America, and the only producer of white cement in Colombia. Argos has investments in Panama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is the sixth largest concrete producer in the United States and it also exports cement and clinker to 27 countries around the world.

Argos has four ports in the U.S. and four in Colombia as well as two in Venezuela, one in Panama, on in the Dominican Republic and one in Haiti. In Colombia, Argos is the largest transporter of land cargo. Argos has 14 cement producing plants, of which 11 are located in Colombia and the rest are in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Four of the 11 Colombian plants are located in the northern area of Colombia and are dedicated to exportation, while for domestic demand there are 7 plants located in the Departments of Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Valle, Boyacá, and Santander.

While Colombia is Argos largest cement producer, the United States is where Argos has its largest concrete production capacity (8.9 million cubic meters per year). There are 134 cement production plants and 1,350 mixers. Argo’s cement production capacity in Colombia is only 1.7 million cubic meters per year, with 40 plants and 230 mixers.

Company History

Argos was founded in Medellín, Colombia on February 27th, 1934, by Claudino Arango Jaramillo, Rafael and Jorge Arango Carrasquilla, Carlos Sevillano Gómez, Leopoldo Arango Ceballos and Carlos Ochoa Velez. In 1936, the factory began production and it issued its first dividend in 1938. After its association with Cementos del Nare, Argos began creating companies in various western regions of Colombia: Cementos del Valle in 1938, del Caribe in 1944, el Cairo in 1946, de Caldas in 19555, Tolcemento in 1972, Colclinker in 1974, and Cementos Ríoclaro in 1982. In the 1990s, Argo purchased stock participation in Cementos Paz del Rio.

Argos purchased Corporación de Cemento Andino in Venezuela, in 1998. Subsequently Argo established alliances to make investments in the Dominican Republic, Panama and Haiti. In 2005, Argo merged all of its cement producing companies in Colombia and purchased Southern Star Concrete and Concrete Express in the U.S. The following year, it purchased Ready Mixed Concrete Company in the US and merged its concrete producing companies in Colombia and then purchased the cement and concrete assets of Cementos Andino and Concrecem in Colombia.