Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze Biography & Net Worth

Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze was an Argentinian businessperson and heiress who, as of the time of filing this report, is reported to have left behind an estimated net worth of 2 billion dollars when she passed in 2015. A significant portion of her huge wealth, for those that are wondering, was actually derived from the sale of Loma Negra, a company that is considered the largest cement maker in Argentina. Successful in her own right, Mrs. Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze was the sole heir of the late Amalia Lacroze Fortabat’s massive fortune. When her beloved mother passed away in 2012, Maria inherited all that was left behind by her mother and thus became the wealthiest woman in Argentina. The late Amalia Lacroze Fortabat used to be the richest and most influential woman in the whole of Argentina. Upon her demise, her daughter inherited the Loma Negra cemebt company which was founded in 1926 by her stepfather. The company was run and headed by Amalia Lacroze for more than two decades until 2005 when she decided to sell her shares in the booming company to the Brazilian conglomerate Camargo Correa for an estimated cost of 1 billion dollars. On the personal side, Maria, who was hardly involved in the running of the family business, was always known for her inclination toward philanthropy. In the years prior to her passing, Maria was more actively involved in many charitable activities in Argentina, supporting the needy, especially in areas like women and children’s health and education.

Early Life

Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze was born and raised in Argentina. Theirs was a rich and famous family so completing her education at some of the best schools in the world was very easy for Maria, whose mother, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat remarried a cement mogul who established the prominent Loma Negra in 1926.

Professional Life

She was mainly an heir to her mother’s fortune. There is also so much associated with her name in terms of businesses as she paid attention to whatever it was that the family’s business was concerned with in addition to leading other unrelated establishments. When her stepfather’s cement company was sold to Brazilian conglomerate Camargo Correa for over a billion dollars in 2005, she and her mother’s wealth was boosted significantly. When her mother died in 2012, all that her mother owned was bequeathed to her as the only child.

A kind-hearted person and devoted humanitarian, Ms. Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze was known for her commitment to philanthropic endeavors. She basically gave out huge sums of money to different charitable endeavors with the aim of bettering the lives of many people in her country. She mainly focused on some key areas like healthcare for women and children and the education of young people.

During her life as a businesswoman, Inés de Lafuente was: President of Holdtotal SA, President of COCYF SA, President of Estancias Unidas del Sud SA, President of Estancias Argentinas el Hornero SA, President of Didecem SA, President of Ghinmiaz SA, Vice President of Estancias del Litoral Camba SA, Vice President of Ganadera y Forestal la Casa del Sur SA, Director of Albaram SA, Director Loma Negra CIASA, Director of Cementos San Martín SA, Director of Cementos del Plata SA, Director of LOMAX SA, Director of Boniface Inc. SA, Director of LomaSer SA, and Director of Recycomb SA.

Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze Net Worth

There’s no existing record of any salaries earned by this woman during her time alive majorly because she was kept such details away from the attention of the public. She was employed in her life despite that she never needed to work, as she was an heir to her family’s riches. However, Maria wasn’t the one to sit idle and do nothing but enjoy luxury. She worked herself up and held many notable positions across numerous businesses and organizations in Argentina, dedicating the proceeds of her investments and the earnings she received from offices she controlled to do greater good in society through philanthropy. Upon the time of her passing in the year 2015, Maria Ines de Lafuente had a net worth of $2 billion dollars, a fortune she had inherited from her late mother, the Argentinian businesswoman Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat who died in 2012.

Being the only offspring of one of the wealthiest and most powerful women to have emerged from Argentina, Maria Ines de Lafuente inherited a flourishing cement empire that was founded back in 1926 by her mother’s second husband, Alfredo. The cement company, Loma Negra, became Argentina’s leader in the production of cement and concrete during the 1950s and ’60s. After the death of her husband in 1976, Amalia Lacroze succeeded the cement company and that was how she earned her nickname “cement lady. However, due to family mismanagement and massive foreign debt, the cement company, Loma Negra, was sold off in May 2005 to Brazilian group Camargo Correa for a sum of $1 billion. Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, after her death in February 2012, also left behind an art collection valued at more than 200 million dollars. This was also passed down to Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze who has died since September 11, 2015.