1960 - 1970
History
1962
- João Macedo Silva founds RAR - Refinarias de Açúcar Reunidas, S.A.R.L., with an initial capital of 10 million escudos
- A 20,000m2 piece of land is purchased at Rua Manuel Pinto de Azevedo in Porto for the construction of the future industrial sugar refining plant
1967
- The new sugar refinery comes on stream with an initial production capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year
- Acquisition of licences, rights, land and machinery from two pre-existent refineries, increasing sugar production capacity to 75,000 tonnes/year
1970
- Creation of Acembex - Açúcar, Embalagem e Exportação Lda., a joint venture between Tate & Lyle and RAR Açúcar, now Acembex - Comércio e Serviços, Lda.
1971
- Acquisition of a stake in Fábrica de Chocolates Imperial, S.A.R.L., based in Vila do Conde, now Imperial Produtos Alimentares, S.A.
1973
- Acquisition of Sociedade de Refinaria Angola, Lda., based in Matosinhos. The sugar refining concentration process in the North of Portugal started in 1962 ending with the acquisition of the last 9 sugar refining units
1977
- RAR participates in the creation of “IBEROCAP - Indústria de Acessórios para Embalagens, Lda.” producing capsules and packaging accessories and enters the plastic moulds business with Iberonorma
1978
- Beginning of the creation of SPI - Sociedade Portuguesa de Investimentos, S.A., of which RAR is one of the main promoters and which is to be the origin of the first private bank to be formed in Portugal since the nationalisation of the banking sector in 1975
1980
- Aquisition of Veldec, Lda. (Velvet)
1981
- Creation of RAR - Sociedade de Controle (Holding) S.A., the company that currently controls, directly or indirectly, all of the Group’s shareholdings
- RAR takes control of MONTARROIO - Sociedade Comercial de Cafés, Lda., the company responsible for launching the Segafredo coffee brand in Portugal and later the creation of the Buondi coffee brand
1984
- Foundation of 'BPI - Banco Português de Investimento, S.A.', the first private bank in Portugal following the reopening of the banking sector to private initiative. RAR is elected as chairman of its General Council
- Disinvestment in the moulds and plastics area
- Foundation of 'CPCi - Companhia Portuguesa de Computadores e Sistemas de Informação'
1985
- Creation of BCI - Banco de Comércio e Indústria, S.A. João Macedo Silva, Chairman of RAR, becomes chairman of its General Council
1987
- Creation of RAR Imobiliária, S.A.
- Foundation of Portugel - Comércio e Indústria de Gelados, Lda., a company established to market the upmarket Italian ice cream brand “Gelati Motta”
- Foundation of RAR D - Comércio e Distribuição de Produtos Alimentares, S.A.
1988
- Participation in the creation of the Global and Global Vida insurance companies
- Creation of RAR - Sociedade de Capital de Risco, S.A. and RAR - Sociedade de Investimentos e Engenharia Financeira, S.A.
1990
- Acquisition of a qualified shareholding in Adriano Ramos Pinto (Vinhos), S.A.
1992
- Acquisition of a stake in Finantipar, the holding company controlling Banco Finantia
- RAR participates in the core group of investors seeking to acquire the control of BPA - Banco Português do Atlântico
1993
- Reinforcement of positions in the financial sector, including in BPA and Finantipar (Banco Finantia)
- Sale of Montarroio (the Buondi coffee brand) to Nestlé
1994
- Creation of RAR Ambiente, S.A.
- Creation of Indáqua - Indústria e Gestão de Águas, S.A. (joint venture for the water sector between RAR Ambiente and national and international partners)
1995
- In association with national and international partners, RAR Ambiente participates in the industry of environmental services via the creation of Recolte - Recolha, Tratamento e Eliminação de Resíduos Sólidos, S.A. and Climaespaço - Sociedade de Produção e Distribuição de Energia Térmica, S.A.
- Disposal of the BPA shareholding following the Tender Offer launched by BCP - Banco Comercial Português
1999
- Acquisition of 2% of the share capital of CIMPOR
2000
- Death of João Macedo Silva, the founder of RAR
- João Nuno Macedo Silva becomes the Group Chairman
- RAR invests in the tourism sector by acquiring GEOTUR - Viagens e Turismo, S.A.
- RAR invests in the Packaging sector, initiating the acquisition process of Colep Portugal - Embalagens e Enchimentos, S.A.
2001
- Launch of a Tender Offer for Colep; RAR acquires 100% control of the company
- Creation of Centrar, a Shared Services company
2004
- Incorporation of ColepCCL from the merger of Colep and CCL Custom Manufacturing Europe to create Europe’s biggest contract manufacturing company
2007
- Acquisition of a majority shareholding in Wight Salads Group (WSG)
- Acquisition of the 40% stake that CCL Industries previously held in ColepCCL, resulting in the total control of the company (100%) by the RAR Group
- Acquisition by Geotur of the tour operators Grantur and Sporski
2008
- Acquisition of 100% share capital of Vitacress Salads, Ltd.
- The RAR and Sonae Groups agree to merge their travel operations, Geotur and Star, to create a new company - RASO, S.G.P.S., S.A. - 50% owned by each of the Groups
- Sale of RARTransportes to the Transportes Sardão Group
2009
- Acquisition by ColepCCL of the German company Czewo Full Filling Service GmbH, reinforcing its leading position in Europe in the contract manufacturing sector
- Merge of Geotur and Star (travel agencies) and launch of the brand GeoStar
2010
- The RAR Group enters the Brazilian market through the acquisition by ColepCCL of 51% of the companies Provider/Total Pack and the launch through this partnership of a new aerosol-based consumer products production plant
- Vitacress reinforces its position in the UK with the acquisition of Van Heyningen Brothers (VHB), one of the principal companies in the fresh herbs sector
2013
- Colep sets up an agreement for Manufacture and Technology with “One Asia Network” to cover the entire operations of both organisations in Asia, Australia, Brazil and Europe. This Agreement focused on combining Know-how, Innovation, R&D, Quality, Operations and Security is intended to develop and improve solutions for local and global clients
- Colep acquired an industrial unit in Mexico, marking the start of the Portuguese multinational in that market. Almost at the same time Colep entered a joint venture with a company in the United Arabic Emirates. This dual operation was set up simultaneously with the One Asia partnership and positioned Colep in the “Top 3” worldwide operators in its sector, making this RAR Group company unique in operating globally in the contract manufacturing field
2015
- Colep extended its majority controlling stake (51%) by acquiring all of the Brazilian operation, with assets of about 300 million Real (100 million Euro), in a business which has a leading position in the Brazilian market
- Continuing the process of reallocating assets in order to concentrate RAR Group investments in the most strategic companies, the sole shareholding in Imperial and the 50% stake in GeoStar were sold. RAR Group also sold its Vitacress UK tomato business
- With the extension of its glasshouse facilities Vitacress concluded the process of concentrating all its fresh herbs production at the Runcton Nursery site, making it the largest in Europe
2016
- Beginning of the construction of a new plant dedicated to segment contract manufacturing in the industrial centre of Kleszczów, Poland, where Colep has two other industrial units.
- Vitacress begins the process of merging its Amesbury operations with St Mary Bourne, where all the salads production will be concentrated, with significant cost, efficiency and quality gains
2018
- Colep started the operation in the new unit built in Kleszców (Poland) following the reinforcement in the Liquids&Creams segment, transferring production to this plant and to Bad Schmiedeberg (Germany), after alienating industrial assets in Zülpich (Germany)
- Vitacress increased its participation in Vitacress Real, the venture that is operated with the Dutch Gipmans Group and completed the disinvestment process on the tomato segment with the sale of production assets in Portugal and Spain
2019
- Vitacress Portugal extended to 350 ha its salad leaf farming operations area at Odemira, Portugal
2020
- Vitacress Salads began construction works to improve its packing facilities at St Mary Bourne
- Vitacress Herbs increased its production capacity to enter the horticultural market
- Colep started the implementation of capacity expansion projects for aerosol contract manufacturing in Mexico and for Liquids & Creams in Poland and Portugal, in order to meet the growing demand for its activities in the North American and European markets.
2021
- Colep announces the split of its businesses into two new companies, starting on July 1 - "Colep Packaging" and "Colep Consumer Products
2022
- Colep Packaging has acquired 40% of ALM, a Spanish company with over 30 years of activity in the aluminium packaging sector, expanding its portfolio and strengthening its range of packaging solutions
- The Vitacress companies have launched their environmental framework, setting their ambition to become Carbon Neutral by 2040
- Vitacress has completed the extension and modernisation of its St. Mary Bourne facility in the UK, creating one of the most advanced salad packing units in Europe
2023
- Colep Packaging and Envases Group formalised a joint venture agreement to build a metal aerosol plant in Mexico - ENCOPACK - to supply customers in Mexico and the Central American markets
- Restructuring of Colep Consumer Products' industrial footprint, which ceased operations in Brazil and reduced the presence in Germany, concentrating its activity in Poland, Portugal, and Mexico.