Sonae

Sonae (Sonae SGPS, S.A.) ( listen ) is a Portuguese retail company (Sonae MC and Sonae SR) with two big partnerships in the shopping centers areas (Sonae Sierra) and the Software and Information Systems, Media and Telecommunications (Sonaecom). Sonae has around 40,000 employees and is present in more than 60 countries. It is listed in Euronext PSI-20, in Lisbon, under SON code.

History

Sonae was founded in 1959, in Maia, Portugal in the engineered wood business and more specifically the production of high-pressure decorative laminates, by the businessman, banker and patron from Arouca, Afonso Pinto de Magalhães.

During its first two decades of existence, Sonae stayed as a small to medium-size business, focused on the wood derivatives market.

Afonso Pinto de Magalhães, also the founder of Banco Pinto Magalhães, left Fábio Lemos in control of Sonae during the tumultuous years after the Carnation Revolution. At some stage during that period, the company was even nationalized, and then, privatized again.