The Board of Directors of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, at the proposal of Esther Koplowitz, majority shareholder of FCC and Vice President of the cement company, today named José Ignacio Martínez-Ynzenga as the Chairman of the company. He replaces Rafael Martínez-Ynzenga who has decided to retire after 48 years with the company.

The proposal was approved at the meeting of the Board of Directors of Cementos Portland Valderrivas held today.

According to Esther Koplowitz: "By choosing José Ignacio Martínez-Ynzenga, we are recognising his brilliant career with the company. His experience in the management and development of this great Group brings added value to the growth and internationalisation strategy of Cementos Portland Valderrivas and the FCC Group."

The new Chairman of Cementos Portland Valderrivas holds a degree in Physical Science. He was a professor at the Madrid School and worked as an investigator for the Eduardo Torroja Institute.

He joined Portland Valderrivas more than 30 years ago and has held numerous positions of responsibility over the years. He was also the Director of Fibrocementos Castilla and Hormigones y Morteros Preparados, S.A. (HYMPSA), as well as the Director of Operations for Portland Valderrivas.

When in 1993 Portland Valderrivas merged its cement assets with those of Cementos Portland, he was appointed to the Board and to the Executive Committee of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, a company in which he occupied the post of Technical Managing Director for several years.

He has been the Managing Director of the company since October 2002.

Rafael Martínez-Ynzenga, leaves behind a Cementos Portland Valderrivas which is the leading Spanish cement company and a diversified multinational group with a strong presence in the US and high quality and profitability standards. The Group has just received the approval of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and the Board on the takeover bid for Cementos Lemona.

With a doctorate in industrial engineering, in 1958 he joined the Valderrivas Group whose parent company was founded by his grandfather, Federico Ynzenga Griñán. In 1969 he was appointed to the Board and in 1976 he became the Managing Director.

In 1993 he was named the Managing Director of Cementos Portland and in 1997 was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors. During the nine years that Rafael Martínez-Ynzenga has been the Chairman of the company, Cementos Portland has experienced spectacular growth. When he was named Chairman, the company had turnover of 225 million euros, compared to the almost 900 million euros it invoiced in 2004.

Cementos Portland Valderrivas is the leading Spanish cement group and occupies a prominent position on the east coast of the United States.

Over the last three years it has experienced spectacular growth, with sales rising by 240% thanks to a plan that has been carefully planned and developed.

This extraordinary growth has been accompanied by an investment policy with the following principal objectives:

. Increased productivity at factories.

. Improved environmental quality.

. Occupational risk prevention.

. The Group's Cement Division holds a very prominent position in Spain. Commercially, it distributes in 10 of the country's 17 Autonomous Communities (Andalucía, Aragón, Cantabria, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla León, Extremadura, La Rioja, Madrid, Navarra and the Basque Country).

The location of its factories provides for the right diversification of sales and a considerable market share across the entire Peninsula.

Factories of the Cementos Portland Valderrivas Group:

. El Alto (Morata de Tajuña - Madrid).

. Olazagutía (Navarra).

. Hontoria (Venta de Baños - Palencia).

. Alcalá de Guadaira (Alcalá de Guadaira - Sevilla).

. Cementos Alfa (Mataporquera - Cantabria).

The Group has three factories in the United States operated by two companies: Giant Cement Holding Inc. and CDN-USA, in Harleyville (South Carolina), Bath (Pennsylvania) and Thomaston (Maine).

In recent years, Cementos Portland Valderrivas has invested more than 800 million dollars in the United States, the world's third largest consumer of cement.