Steel for manufacturing, agriculture & farming and construction.

Transporting the rolling mill across the Andes was no easy task, in particular with the primitive resources available at the time. It was also necessary to resort to a great deal of imagination to replace the sophisticated means that were not available in our country, by adapting those that could be obtained. Thus, parts from old obsolete locomotives or tractors and other parts which seemed impossible to use as a replacement for the original ones.

Finally, with a precarious rolling mill, they started rolling bundles of iron scrap. Soon after, a small Siemens Martin furnace was added, originally designed for 15 tons, which was later updated to produce 30 tons.

Acindar was on the go. It was the result of Argentine ingenuity and a group of men who had the courage to embark on such an adventure with their drive and their capital.
After the war, the reconstruction of Europe required all the available steel. This meant it was necessary to increase the production of this vital material.

En 1946, the Chilean group left the Company so that it remained in the hands of local shareholders. In1948 it became listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.

In view of the need to expand operations, in1951 it moves to Villa Constitución, also in the Province of Santa Fe, where it installs a modern Morgan rolling mill.
Naturally, Acindar had to face the ups-and-downs that are typical of the unpredictable Argentine economy.

Various projects were started and they met with different outcomes. Among others, a melting mill was founded –Acinfer– with the purpose of producing boogies for railways. A plastic pipe factory was created –Acinplast– as well as another company to manufacture stamped parts for the automobile industry –Armetal–.

Between 1962 and 1963, jointly with the Thyssen Group, a firm called Marathon was created, with the objective of manufacturing special steels. Later on, Acindar bought the shares of the Thyssen Group whose facilities became a department of the Company.

From the very onset, Mr. Acevedo’s idea was to have an integral facility, that starting with iron ore would perform the whole process, up to the finished products. Several of the projects did not thrive, mainly because of Governmental opposition.

At long last, in 1975, the new Acindar plan was approved and immediately construction was started for a direct reduction plant, a steel mill with three electric furnaces and continuous casting, besides the ancillary facilities, including a mineral harbor. This was an extremely important milestone for the Company, enabling it to control production of its own billets, without depending on supply by Somisa.

Another important events in Acindar’s life was its merger with the Gurmendi Group. Thanks to this partnership, the Gurmendi plants were available for the Company: Genaro Grasso S.A. (manufacture of Tubes) and Santa Rosa S.A. (special steels).
This decision made it possible to keep the most efficient plants and to close down the less productive ones, improving competitiveness and overcoming a very critical context for industry in general and the steel sector in particular.

With the ups-and-downs characteristic of those years, we came to the ‘90s, when the steel sector went through an event of crucial importance: the sector’s enterprises that were in the hands of the State were privatized, thus eliminating a factor that was interfering with private activity.
Encouraged by the growth of the economy, Acindar decides to follow the trend, and made significant investments to increase production and improve quality and efficiency. When these improvements were beginning to bear fruit, a whole series of unforeseeable situations converged to lead the Company to an extremely difficult situation.

In fact, from the second term of 1998, internal demand dramatically fell. There was also a significant decrease of prices on foreign markets and finally, Brazil’s devaluation caused our prices to be non competitive vis-à-vis their production. The situation deteriorated with time, while the Government found no solution. By the end of 2001, the economy was in chaos.
Before these events, the Acevedo family, who were the Company’s major shareholders, had already considered the possibility of a strategic alliance with another group in order to consolidate its regional and international position.

They reached an agreement with Belgo Mineira, an important Brazilian steel company. Through this agreement, the Acevedo family sold 50% of its shares to Belgo Mineira and Acindar was from then on under joint management.

This agreement not only produced an inflow of capital, but also made it possible to exchange of experiences, both technical and commercial, that avoided a worsening of the Company’s economy, in spite of the country’s dramatic situation at the time.

Later on, Belgo acquired the remaining 50% of the controlling shares owned by the Acevedo family. With further capital investments, Belgo Mineira now owns around 72% of the Company’s shares.

It should be noted that Belgo’s control is in turn in the hands of Arcelor, a firm resulting from the merger of Arbed, from Luxemburg, Aceralia from Spain and Usinor from France, and has become the second largest steel company in the world..

The recovery of Argentina’s economy and the significant increase of steel’s international price have made it possible to turn around the situation and today Acindar is once again a privileged member of our country’s industrial sector.