Holcim
Building progress for people and the planet
Holcim is a multinational building materials company that specializes in the production and distribution of cement, aggregates, and ready-mix concrete. The company was originally founded in Switzerland in 1912 and has since grown to become one of the largest cement producers in the world.
Holcim was founded by Adolf Gygi in 1912 as “Aargauische Portlandcementfabrik Holderbank-Wildegg”. The original headquarters were in Holderbank, Switzerland. In 1914, the company merged with “Rheintalischen Cementfabrik Rüthi” owned by Ernst Schmidheiny. Schmidheiny took over leadership duties and began the company on a course of expansion.
The company expanded into France and then throughout Europe and Middle East during the 1920s. They expanded in the Americas during the 1950s and went public in 1958. The company continued to expand in Latin America and added Asian divisions during the 1970s and 1980s. A series of mergers and buyouts made Holcim one of the two largest cement manufacturers worldwide by 2014, roughly tied with rival Lafarge. In April 2014, the two companies agreed to a US$60 billion “merger of equals”.
Holcim merged with Lafarge on 10 July 2015 to form LafargeHolcim as the new company and renamed to Holcim Group in 2021. When the merger was completed, the Holcim brand remain active within the group.
The Zug-based company now operates in over 70 countries and has a strong presence in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. The company’s products are used in various construction projects, including residential, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure developments.
Over the years, Holcim has expanded its operations through mergers and acquisitions. In 2015, Holcim merged with the French cement company Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim, creating a global leader in the building materials industry.
Holcim’s purpose is to build progress for people and the planet. We set rigorous science-based targets to meet our net-zero and circular construction goals.
The “Accelerating Green Growth” strategy seeks to transform Holcim into the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions.
It is repositioning our business towards more dynamic end-markets (e.g. the United States) where green stimulus and renovation requirements are creating a growing demand for building solutions that help customers achieve ambitious sustainability targets.
It is also shifting its portfolio towards solutions and products, a lightside segment that offers above-market growth, strong pricing power and lower cyclicality, and which will make up over 30% of Holcim’s net sales by 2025.
14Trees, a LafargeHolcim joint venture with the UK’s publicly funded impact-investor CDC Group, is deploying 3D printing technology in Africa, to build affordable and low-carbon housing and schools in Malawi. Pioneering this technology in schools for the first time, 14Trees aims to address the country’s chronic infrastructure shortage while creating skilled local jobs. With its optimized material use, this technology enables the reduction of new homes’ carbon footprint by up to 70%.