Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

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

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 Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

s. It was formed via a 1999

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

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

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

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

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

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 (originally the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain & Ireland, and subsequently Imperial Tobacco Group plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is ...

(now Imperial Brands) in 2008, becoming a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of it.

Company history

French and Spanish state monopolies

In 1926,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

concentrated its

industry into a single state-run

called SEIT ()."Altadis S.A.,"
FundingUniverse.com/ Retrieved February 19, 2011. The production of matches () 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

similarly established a

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

tobacco monopoly called , commonly known as Tabacalera. 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 (rendered 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 w ...

, 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 service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

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 Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

in the United States. Consolidated Cigar was a large purveyor of cigars such as the Dominican made editions of Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo. 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. 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 now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

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 Delisting may refer to: * Delisting (Canadian medicare), the removal of medical coverage for a certain operation by Canadian medicare * Delisting (listed building), the removal of protected status from a listed building * Delisting (stock), the ...

of Altadis from the

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 securities, and both g ...

."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 * Ducados * Fine *

Fortuna Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular thr ...

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

Black tobacco

* Gitanes * Habanos * Casa Sports * BN * Ducados

Cigars

Premium

* Don Diego * Flor de Copan * H. Upmann * José Piedra * Longchamp * Montecristo * Pleiades * Por Larrañaga * Quintero * Romeo y Julieta * Santa Damiana * VegaFina * Siglo Limited Reserve * Trinidad

Other

Rolling tobacco

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

Logistic

* Logista * 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 Companies formerly listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange Spanish subsidiaries of foreign companies