Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

s. It was formed via a 1999

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

between

Tabacalera Tabacalera, formerly the Compañía Arrendataria de Tabacos, was a Spanish tobacco monopoly whose origins date back to 1636, making it the oldest tobacco company in the world. In 1999, the company merged with SEITA of France to form Altadis, ...

, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and , the former French tobacco

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

. Through its international holdings, including ownership of the former Consolidated Cigar Holdings and half ownership of the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n state tobacco monopoly, Habanos S.A., Altadis was the largest producer of mass market and premium cigars in the world, as well as the fourth largest producer of tobacco products. The company was acquired by the British tobacco giant

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...

(now Imperial Brands) in 2008, becoming a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of it.

Company history

French and Spanish state monopolies

In 1926,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

concentrated its

industry into a single state-run

called SEIT ()."Altadis S.A.,"
FundingUniverse.com/ Retrieved February 19, 2011. The production of

matches A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

() was added to the state monopoly's purview in 1935 and the company was renamed SEITA (). Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

similarly established a

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

tobacco monopoly called , commonly known as

. Throughout the decades of the 1960s and 1970s, national markets were gradually opened up to the importation of foreign tobacco brands and the national tobacco monopolies of both France and Spain were weakened and gradually

privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, with SEITA employees losing status as

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s in 1962 and the company losing both its monopoly of tobacco cultivation and tobacco sales by 1971.

Acquisitions

purchased Consolidated Cigar Holdings Inc. of

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in the United States. Consolidated Cigar was a large purveyor of cigars such as the Dominican made editions of Romeo y Julieta and

Montecristo Montecristo, also Monte Cristo (, ) and formerly Oglasa ( grc, Ὠγλάσσα, Ōglássa), is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province ...

. In August 2000, Consolidated Cigar and Havatampa, owned by Tabacalera, merged to form Altadis USA. In September 2000 Altadis purchased a 50% interest in the

n state tobacco monopoly,

Habanos SA Habanos S.A. is a Cuban manufacturing company of tobacco that controls the promotion, distribution, and export of premium cigars and other tobacco products for Cuba worldwide. It was established in 1994. Ownership of Habanos S.A. is split equal ...

. In 2003, Altadis acquired the internet seller 800-JR Cigar, Inc., one of the largest cigar retailers in the United States.

2008 sale

On 18 July 2007, the board of Altadis backed a €16.2

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i. ...

offer for the company by

(now Imperial Brands). The acquisition was cleared by the Spanish stock market regulator on 7 November 2007, paving the way for the creation of the world's fourth largest tobacco company. The acquisition was completed on 25 February 2008 with the delisting of Altadis from the

Bolsa de Madrid Bolsa de Madrid (; Madrid Stock Exchange) is the largest and most international of Spain's four regional stock exchanges (the others are located in Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao) that trade shares and convertible bonds and fixed income securiti ...

."Altadis to be Delisted Feb. 25,"
AFX News, 22 February 2008.

Sales

Western Europe's third largest cigarette manufacturer, Altadis produced and sold blond, regular and dark cigarettes. Its major markets included the United States, Spain and France. In 2004, Altadis Group economic sales rose 3.9% to euro 3.518 million with a staff of 27,500 people.

Appointments

In January 2019, Altadis announced new heads of sales and consumer marketing, in the face of Paul Waller and Brad Winstead.

Cigarettes

Blond tobacco

* Anfa * Balkan Star (BS) * Brooklyn *

Colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

* Ducados * Fine *

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

* Fox *

Gauloises Blondes Gauloises (, "Gaulish" eminine pluralin French; ''cigarette'' is a feminine noun in French) is a brand of cigarette of French origin. It is produced by the company Imperial Tobacco following its acquisition of Altadis in January 2008 in most c ...

* Iris * Marquise * News * Nobel * Popularne * Prima * Royale * Smart * Spike * ZK (Golden Ring)

Black tobacco

Gitanes Gitanes (, " Gypsy women") is a French brand of cigarettes, owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco following their acquisition of Altadis in January 2008, having been owned by SEITA before that. History Gitanes was launched in 1910 in fo ...

* Habanos * Casa Sports * BN * Ducados

Cigars

Premium

* Don Diego * Flor de Copan *

H. Upmann H. Upmann is a Cuban brand of premium cigars established by banker Hermann Dietrich Upmann (who also founded the H. Upmann & Co. bank on the island). The brand is currently owned by a British corporation, Imperial Brands. The cigars are manuf ...

* José Piedra * Longchamp *

* Pleiades * Por Larrañaga *

Quintero Quintero is a Chilean city and commune in Valparaíso Province, in the Valparaíso Region, 30 kilometers north of Valparaíso. The commune spans an area of . It was the first port in the country, created during the expedition of Diego de Almagr ...

* Romeo y Julieta * Santa Damiana * VegaFina * Siglo Limited Reserve

Other

Rolling tobacco

* Amsterdamer * Kennings * Gauloises * Picadura Ideales * Picadura Selecta * Picadura Fina * Horizon

Logistic

Logista Compañía de Distribución Integral Logista Holdings, S.A., or Grupo Logista, through its subsidiaries, operates as a distributor of products and services to proximity retailers in Southern Europe. The company distribution includes different prod ...

* Régie des Tabacs * Rouge Papier * Nordipa * LPM Promodern

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1999 Tobacco companies of Spain Manufacturing companies based in Madrid Conglomerate companies of Spain Cigar manufacturing companies Imperial Brands 1999 establishments in Spain 2008 mergers and acquisitions