Molins’ proposed acquisition of Portugal-based Secil seems set to complete. First, the competition body the Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) approved the transaction this week. Then Molins’ shareholders consented to the deal on the following day. Let’s take a look at what’s been happening.
Spain-based Molins announced in late December 2025 that it had struck a deal with Portugal-based Semapa to buy the latter company’s cement subsidiary outright for €1.4bn. The transaction was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. Barring the unexpected, this now looks likely to happen. Molins said it would pay for the acquisition using a combination of cash and funds from a syndicated credit agreement and a bond issuance.
Molins placed Secil’s cement production capacity at around 10Mt/yr. This compares to an integrated capacity of 9.1Mt/yr as calculated from the Global Cement Directory 2025 with integrated plants in Angola, Brazil, Lebanon, Portugal and Tunisia. In addition the group also runs a grinding plant in Angola. Plus, on the cement side, Secil manages a terminal in Spain, a terminal in the Netherlands and has operations in Cape Verde. This gives a price of €153/t for the integrated cement plant capacity in the acquisition deal using the latter capacity figure.
This should be added to Molins’ existing cement footprint around the world. It operates majority-controlled cement companies in Spain, Argentina and Tunisia. It also holds joint-control of Cementos Moctezuma in Mexico (with Buzzi) and owns minority stakes in cement companies in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia and Uruguay. Working out Molins’ current cement production capacity around the world is difficult due to the number of minority stakes it owns. However, Global Cement Magazine placed it at around 11Mt/yr in the December 2025 issue. Molins placed its ordinary Portland cement (OPC) production capacity at around 23Mt/yr in its annual report in 2024.
The addition of Secil is a serious acquisition for Molins that expands its geographic footprint. The new network of plants in the Iberian peninsula is the obvious sign of enlargement in its home territory. Yet, the plants in Brazil give the company the makings of a regional market leader in Latin America approaching the likes of Cemex, Cementos Argos and Votorantim. Molins’ made acquisitions in 2024 in the aggregates business in Spain and Bangladesh, and the concrete business in Colombia. Investments in recycled aggregates in Spain and alternative fuels - with a focus in Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Bangladesh - were also made that year. Major acquisitions in 2025 included a deal with Titan to buy 80% of Baupartner, a Bosnia-based pre-cast company, the purchase of a 90% stake in Zenet, a Spain-based manufacturer of reinforced and prestressed precast concrete components, and Concremat, the leading precast concrete company in Portugal.
A separate point to note was the resignation of Molins’ previous chair Juan Molins Amat in mid-2025. He was succeeded by Julio Rodríguez. Local press has framed this as a battle between the three arms of the Molins family that controls the company. However, the three parties reportedly coordinated to vote for the Secil deal.
Molins’ decision to buy Secil looks set to take the cement business to a new level, particularly in Iberia and South America. To finish, concrete is a major part of this deal that we’ve not really covered here. Molins reported concrete sales of 1.6Mm3 in 2024. However, Secil said it produced just under 2Mm3 in the same year. This will be a major increase in output in addition to all of these recent precast expansions in Europe.