ACO, C.A. is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

for an umbrella organization of over eighty companies engaged in a wide variety of industries throughout Venezuela predominantly in the automotive industry. It is best known for the sale, servicing and leasing of automobiles nationally.

History

ACO was founded in 1951 by Arnold Orav, Chairman along with

Harry Männil Harry Männil (May 17, 1920 – January 11, 2010), also known as Harry Mannil Laul, was an Estonian businessman, art collector, and cultural benefactor in several countries. Männil was born in Tallinn, Estonia. As a result of World War II he m ...

, President & CEO, and with the financial backing of

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

Aluminum Corp. (majority shareholder), the Juan Simon Mendoza family (Polar Group), the Tamayo family (largest Venezuelan liquor distributor ''et al.''), and other prominent Venezuelan investors. The company emerged in the 1970s as the world's largest

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

dealership as the dealer for

John Deere Tractors John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in Venezuela. It also became the largest

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

dealership in South America, according to the Ford Motors Company (USA). A significant contributor to the success of the Grupo Aco was the innovative introduction in Venezuela of in-house auto sale financing using a captive finance company. Whereas Grupo Aco had equity stakes in a great number of companies, the balance of ownership of many of these companies was held by Grupo Aco shareholders. As a result, Grupo Aco commanded a larger market share than would be suggested only by its totally owned companies. It attained US $900 million in sales during 1973 and ranked as the most profitable private sector company in the nation that year. Changes in Venezuela's economy and political environment during the early 1980s caused a downturn for many large businesses in Venezuela. In the case of the Aco Group, a financial crisis emerged as motor vehicle sales plummeted. By 1993, the Aco Group was forced into reorganization and a restructuring of the entire group. This led to Harry Mannil becoming the largest shareholder, at 24% of common shares. Efforts to recover financially were overwhelmed by continuous declines in the nation's private sector economy. Aco, S.A. was splintered into several groups, with a substantial number of auto dealerships taken under direct ownership by Harry Mannil.

References

Bibliography

* Companies of Venezuela Holding companies established in 1951 Venezuelan companies established in 1951 {{venezuela-stub