The origin of Paranapanema begins in 1956, when the executive Aloysio Ramalho Foz buy a farm in the city of Paranapanema, 260 km west of Sao Paulo, neighbor to the father’s property José Carlos de Araújo, João Domingues, farmer and trader in the region.
On May 15, 1961, entrepreneurs Octavian Cavalcante Lacombe, José Carlos de Araujo and Aloysio Ramalho Foz founded Paranapanema. The operation is aimed at the area of heavy construction and, four years later, in 1965, began to diversify its activities with the entry into the mining area, acquiring the Minebra (Minérios Brasileiros, Mineração e Industrialização Ltda.).
In 1969, Paranapanema discovers the existence of tin ore in the Amazon and purchase the areas of cassiterite’s mining Igarapé Preto and São Francisco de Plínio Sebastião Xavier Benfica. So, Igarapé Preto becomes the first company’s undertaking on the tin. Later, acquires the area Massangana in Rondonia.
One of the most famous works of the 70s, the Trans-Amazon Highway, had Paranapanema participation in 1971.
The growth of its operations in mining was accentuated after the capital opening and listing on B3 in 1971, with investments in research and development of new techniques, with the purchase of the companies Taboca (cassiterite extraction) and Mamoré (tin metallurgy and alloys).
In 1974, the National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES) acquires Paranapanema, aiming to invest in research in the mining sector.
In 1977, the Company is registered in the CVM (Brazilian Securities Commission).
In the 1980s, the company had the highest value in its history, starting a career in the Stock Exchange that put it on the list of the phenomenon’s capital market in Brazil.
In 1982, Mineração Taboca starts the implantation and mining in the mine 300 kilometers from Manaus (AM), then called Pitinga, generating resources that turn into a self-sustaining project.
The following year, the company closed a partnership with then newcomer in the field of mining, Eike Batista, in gold exploration. It’s the first mine of the entrepreneur. Also in 1983, the Company won two major projects in its construction area: the aluminum factory Albras, a company controlled by Vale do Rio Doce, in Barcarena, Pará, and civil works of mine in the Projeto Ferro Carajás, also for Vale. In 1994, the Companhia Brasileira de Fertilizantes S.A. (Cibrafértil) was bought.
In 1995, the company was controlled by a pension funds group led by the Pension Fund of the Brazil’s Bank (Previ). The move opened the way for the companies’ acquisition Caraíba Metais and Eluma, both in the copper segment, in addition to Paraibuna, who worked in the zinc market.
Paranapanema’s starting point, the construction division was closed in 1996, along with the insurance brokerage activities, garbage collection and production of oil (ATP Petróleo S.A.). In the same year, a group of pension funds acquires the equity control of Mineração Taboca, Mamoré Mineração e Metalurgia, adopting the name Paranapanema to call the new conglomeration of companies focused on the production of non-ferrous metals.
The change made the brand passed to play the role of holding company with no operating activity dedicated, concentrating investments in non-ferrous metals segment. With this, the company now has the tin segments (Mineração Taboca SA and Mamoré, Mineração e Metalurgia Ltda.), Copper (Caraíba Metais SA), zinc (Paraibuna Company Metals) and copper products (Eluma SA Indústria e Comércio).
Over the years, Paranapanema specialized in sectors that brought back and, with this, the zinc and tin segments were sold, leaving part of Paranapanema’s portfolio in 2002 and 2008, respectively.
On December 3, 2007, the company adhered to Level 1 of Bovespa’s Corporate Governance and enters the Stock Index with Differentiated Corporate Governance (IGC).
In 2009, an intensive process of corporate restructuring, completed in 2010, incorporated the activities of Eluma and Caraíba to the company, which left to act as a holding company. In 2009, there was a change of Paranapanema’s headquarters in Santo André (SP) to Dias D’Ávila (BA).
The following year, the company will be listed as the Company in the New Market, direct migrating from Level 1 to the highest level of Corporate Governance Stock Exchange.
On 30 September 2012, Cibrafértil is sold and Paranapanema focuses its activities in the foundry and primary copper refining and copper semi-manufactured and alloys (brass and bronze).
During the year of 2017, a restructuring process sought to readjust the capital structure and the level of financial indebtedness of Paranapanema. The purpose was to ensure the conditions for the full completion of the Company’s business plan and growth strategy in the coming years.
The process involved a series of initiatives, negotiated with the creditors who represented approximately 84% of Paranapanema’s financial debts. Among these initiatives, it is worth stressing the extension of deadlines, the reduction of fees, the obtainment of grace periods for payments and the partial conversion of the credits into capital of the Company.
Strengthened, Paranapanema ended the process in September, 2017. It achieved a reduction of 28% and an extension of 86% of the financial debt, which came to have an approximate medium term of 4.5 years. A capitalization of BRL 712 million, by means of some restricted public offerings of shares and debentures (mandatorily convertible into shares), widened the Company’s strength.