Sarawak State Financial Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Bujang Mohd Nor called the meeting to attention. With him in his office in the Secretariat Building, Kuching, was Datuk Haji Mohd Amin Satem, Executive Chairman of the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and four others: Datuk Haji Yahya bin Haji Lampong and Philip Lee, both from the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO), and Peter Koh and Nicholas Gunjew of the SEDC. It was 9.00 a.m. on Thursday, 31 October 1974. This was the first Board of Directors’ meeting of Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Sendirian Berhad. The company had been incorporated a little over three weeks earlier, on 8 October 1974, with its registered address at the 2nd floor of the Electra House building, Power Street, Kuching. CMS was jointly owned on a 50-50 basis by the SEDC and SEDCO, with Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Bujang Mohd Nor and Datuk Haji Mohd Amin Satem its original directors.

On 12 January 1978, in a simple ceremony witnessed by some 40 invited guests and 79 employees, Sarawak’s then Chief Minister – the late Tun Datuk Patinggi Abdul Rahman Ya’kub – turned the knob to start Borneo’s first cement grinding plant, located at the Pending Industrial Estate. The Chief Minister was elated that the State could now depend on local resources and manpower to develop the much-needed housing industry, which was slowly growing. Speaking at a press conference following the opening of the plant, Managing Director, Datuk Haji Amin Satem said that, “with the setting up of the plant, a stable price of the commodity is assured.” Up until then, the cement price had fluctuated depending on the source of shipment. Once the CMS plant was established, the local production price was fixed by the Federal Ministry of Domestic Trade.

On 2 February 1989, CMS’ shares were listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Main Board. The shares had been over-subscribed by more than 20 times. On its opening day it reached a high of RM2.48 per share – compared with the offer price of RM1.30 – before ending the day at RM2.17. This was the first time a Sarawakian company had been listed on the Main Board.

The CMS Board incorporated two subsidiaries – CMS Cement Sdn Bhd and CMS Properties Sdn Bhd. CMS acquired stakes in three Sarawak Economic Development Corporation subsidiaries – Sara Kuari Sdn Bhd, including PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd and PPES Premix Sdn Bhd; Steel Industry Sarawak Bhd; and PCMS Sdn Bhd. CMS’ infrastructure business expanded with the acquisition of Jabatan Kerja Raya’s premix plants, and constructed new plants. In 1994, the CMS Board recognised the need to centralise all shipping matters through Archipelago Shipping (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd. The transaction proceeded in 1996, and Archipelago Shipping was renamed as CMS Transportation Sdn Bhd. In November 2001, however, Achi Jaya Services Sdn Bhd offered to acquire CMS Transportation Sdn Bhd for RM30 million and the proposed disposal was completed in January 2003.

Following a period of rapid diversification, on 15 December 1996, the CMS Board agreed to change the company’s name from Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Berhad to Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad, subject to approval from the Sarawak State Secretary’s Office. This was obtained in a letter dated 5 March 1996, and the change was officially made on 13 June 1996. ‘Cahya Mata’ in Malay refers to a special child or literally ‘apple of the eye.’ Thus Cahya Mata Sarawak can mean ‘Sarawak’s favourite son.’ This concept has been further extended through CMS’ current vision statement, "To be the PRIDE of Sarawak and Beyond". The CMS logo was also changed from the angular blue design to the present on comprising the colours of the Sarawak flag: yellow, red and black. The interlocking shapes of the logo reflect the concepts of yin and yang and represent the Group’s two main divisions at the time: infrastructure and investment.

On 26 December 2000, CMS Capital Sdn Bhd entered into an exchange agreement with Peninsular Malaysia-based stockbroker K&N Kenanga Holdings Berhad to transfer CMS’ securities and futures business to K&N Kenanga in return for shares in K&N Kenanga. CMS’ subsidiaries Sarawak Securities Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Securities Futures Sdn Bhd were sold to K&N Kenanga in August 2001. The merger enabled the latter to achieve Universal Broker status in line with the government’s call for consolidation of the country’s stockbroking industry. The merger resulted in CMS, through CMS Capital Sdn Bhd, holding just over 25% in the enlarged K&N Kenanga – one of the largest retail-based stockbroking companies in Malaysia – and becoming the single largest shareholder. CMS continues to hold this stake as one of its strategic investments.

The financial services business was one that had then complemented the Group’s banking business. This business unit was restructured after the merger of CMS Capital Sdn Bhd and K&N Kenanga Holdings Berhad. Previously, CMS Capital Sdn Bhd was the holding company of Sarawak Securities Sdn Bhd (SSSB) and Sarawak Securities Futures Sdn Bhd; SSSB was the first licenced stockbroker in Sarawak and commenced operations in 1992 as a member company of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Through the merger, Sarawak Securities Futures Sdn Bhd and SSSB were sold to K&N Kenanga. The financial business, which was under CMS Capital Sdn Bhd then restructured and housed CMS Trust Management Sdn Bhd; K&N Kenanga Holdings Bhd; CMS Dresdner Asset Management Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between CMS Group and the Dresdner Group; and CMS Mezzanine Sdn Bhd, which executed mezzanine and related financing activities.

During the course of 1999, 2000, and 2001, in line with Bank Negara’s policy of consolidating Malaysia’s banking industry, CMS subsidiary, Utama Banking Group (UBG) took part in merger proposal negotiations. The first prospective partner was PerwiraAffin Bank Bhd, but this did not materialise. The second was Arab Malaysian Bank Berhad (AMBB), with whom UBG went to the extent of signing a sales and purchase agreement, but that also didn’t cross the line after AMBB sought to make changes to the agreement. Next, it talked to EON Bank but nothing came to fruition. UBG then embarked on a fourth set of merger talks, this time with Rashid Hussain Bhd (RHB), Malaysia’s third largest banking group. UBG set out to merge with RHB, and announced the successful completion of merger talks on 20 March 2002. On 1 May 2003, RHB Bank Bhd officially merged with Bank Utama and formed the RHB Group.

Following several months of negotiations with potential bidders for its 32.8% stake in Rashid Hussain Bhd (RHB), a CMS subsidiary, Utama Banking Group (UBG) announced on 8 March 2007 that its Board had accepted a revised offer of RM2.25 billion from the EPF (Employees Provident Fund), subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. This resulted in a net gain for UBG and the deal made EPF the largest shareholder in RHB. Following UBG’s disposal of its stakes in RHB, CMS was reclassified by Bursa Malaysia from ‘Finance’ sector to the ‘Industrial Products’ sector.

At a simple ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on 30 August 2007, CMS Cement Sdn Bhd signed a share purchase agreement to buy 100% equity in Sarawak Clinker Sdn Bhd, 33% from Mirzan Mahathir and 67% from Maybach Investment Co., which was represented by Raymond Ang of the Philippines-based conglomerate, San Miguel Group. The decision to buy Sarawak Clinker Sdn Bhd was based on the desire to make CMS Cement Sdn Bhd a more efficient, low-cost integrated cement producer. By having its raw material supplied in-house, CMS Cement Sdn Bhd became able to better ensure the quality and reliability of its product mix beyond Portland Cement. CMS acquired Sarawak Clinker Sdn Bhd in November 2007 for RM110 million on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis. The plant had an annual rated production capacity of 800,000 MT per year and produced an average of 2,500 MT of clinker per day. It remains East Malaysia’s sole producer of clinker. In 2008, Sarawak Clinker Sdn Bhd was renamed CMS Clinker Sdn Bhd. Next to the clinker plant at Mambong are CMS Clinker Sdn Bhd’s own quarrying concessions of key raw materials – limestone, shale and sandstone – covering 78 hectares. Under CMS, a team of 260 staff operates the clinker plant in three shifts per day. Following its acquisition of the plant, CMS spent RM70 million from 2012-2013 to increase its capacity to 900,000 MT a year and enabled it to be fuelled by locally sourced lower-calorific- value coal as opposed to higher-calorific-value coal, which would need to be imported at a higher cost.

In November 2007, CMS finalised the sale of the site of CMS Steel Sdn Bhd’s rolling mill to Bursa Malaysia-listed KKB Engineering Bhd (KKB) for a disposal price valued at RM32 million. The sale of the 17.6–acre site fronting the Sarawak River at Sejingkat, Kuching was to be satisfied by KKB through the issuance of 16 million new ordinary shares, giving CMS a strategic 20% stake in KKB. KKB Group Chairman and Managing Director Dato Kho Kak Beng, whose initials form the name of the company he founded, said that the signing marked the beginning in KKB’s ambition to expand further within Sarawak and beyond, targeting its strength of structural steel fabrication and related engineering works, and to undertake steel works for more CMS and third-party projects in the future. KKB is also involved in the manufacturing of LPG cylinders and cylindrical steel drums.

On 2 July 2008, Utama Banking Group’s (UBG) acquisition of CMS Roads Sdn Bhd and CMS Pavement Tech Sdn Bhd was completed with the allotment of 44,652,000 new UBG shares to PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd and the payment of a cash consideration of RM23.37 million to Sarawak Economic Development Corporation. CMS Roads Sdn Bhd and CMS Pavement Tech Sdn Bhd then became wholly-owned subsidiaries of UBG.

In order to focus more clearly on its key businesses, CMS sought to dispose of its stake in Utama Banking Group (UBG). Before doing so however, in May 2009 UBG disposed of CMS Roads Sdn Bhd and CMS Pavement Tech Sdn Bhd to its listed subsidiary Putrajaya Perdana Bhd. On 29 December 2009, it was announced that Petro Saudi International Ltd, a privately owned investment holding company with its headquarters in Saudi Arabia, proposed to acquire CMS’ stake in UBG. The transaction was completed in September 2010. CMS’ 37.21% stake in UBG, which it held through its wholly owned subsidiary Concordance Holdings Sdn Bhd and PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd, (in which it held a 51% stake), realised an immediate cash return for CMS and its subsidiaries of more than RM465 million.

CMS realised that its momentum would be better maintained without involvement in this aspect of the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector. It had originally entered into a share sale agreement with local information technology company I-Systems Group Bhd in early 2005 for the acquisition of shares amounting to just over RM18 million, representing a 51% equity interest in the MSC-status company. It was thought at the time that this would strengthen CMS’ foray into the ICT sector by leveraging on I-System Group Bhd’s experienced R&D team, capabilities in developing and marketing, and cross-selling of new products. However, this did not turn out to be the case. So, in 2010, CMS made the difficult decision to cease the operations of its technology subsidiary, CMS I-Systems Berhad, which had incurred considerable losses for some time. The subsidiary’s employees were retrenched with compensation and parts of its business sold off.

On 4 May 2011, CMS held an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) at the Riverside Majestic Hotel in Kuching to seek approval for the re-acquisition of both CMS Roads Sdn Bhd and CMS Pavement Tech Sdn Bhd from Putrajaya Perdana Bhd. After months of negotiations and discussions by numerous consultants, financiers and CMS management teams, the EGM took less than 10 minutes to convene and made a unanimous decision in approving the proposal. Two days later, the re-acquisition exercise of the companies by wholly owned CMS subsidiary CMS Works Sdn Bhd from Putrajaya Perdana Bhd for RM82 million was completed. In addition to having a positive impact on CMS’ earnings, the acquisition returned additional expertise in road construction and road maintenance to CMS, enabling it to maximise potential earnings by securing more infrastructure-related projects.

In 2011, CMS announced that it was exploring investment in ferrosilicon and manganese smelting at the Samalaju Industrial Park (SIP). Later, CMS’ wholly owned subsidiary Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OM Materials (S) Pte Ltd (OMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of OM Holdings Ltd (OMH), one of the world’s largest manganese ore producers, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). This related to the proposal to develop an approximate USD592 million smelting plant capable of producing 600,000 MT of manganese and ferrosilicon per year. In 2012, then Chief Minister Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud officiated at the signing ceremony of the joint venture. Formed in 2013, CMS Group has a 20% equity stake in OM Materials Sarawak and OM Materials Samalaju while the remaining 80% is owned by OMH. In March that year, OM Sarawak secured full funding for its ferrosilicon production facility (Phase 1) with the sealing of a financing facility worth USD315 million (RM970 million) with four local and foreign lenders. The banks were the Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia and Malayan Banking Bhd. Standard Chartered is OM Sarawak’s financial advisor in the smelting project. OMH announced to the ASX that capital expenditure on Phase 1 was estimated to be USD397 million. As part of OM Sarawak’s obligations under the power purchase agreement with Syarikat Sesco Bhd, a unit of Sarawak Energy Bhd, it has issued Sesco with a performance and payment guarantee and Sesco will supply 500 MW (per annum) to OM Sarawak for 20 years.

There is growing demand for phosphorus, an essential base nutrient widely used in food, feed and fertiliser products. CMS had joined forces to build an integrated phosphate complex at Samalaju at a projected cost of RM1.04 billion. On the last day of 2013, Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd entered a shareholders’ agreement with Malaysian Phosphate Venture Sdn Bhd (MPV) and Arif Enigma Sdn Bhd (AESB) to form a joint venture company called Malaysian Phosphate Additives (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd (MPAS). Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd and MPV will each own 40% of MPAS while AESB will own 20%. On 8 January 2014, MPAS signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Sarawak Energy Berhad for the supply of 150 MW of electricity The complex is the first of its kind in Malaysia and indeed Southeast Asia, and is the first non-metal or alloy-based plant in Samalaju Industrial Park (SIP), taking SCORE and CMS into a dynamic new industrial sector that offers long-term sustainable demand growth. The complex will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of food and feed phosphate and related products such as fertiliser phosphate derivatives. It will be built on a 142- hectare site near the Samalaju deep water port, which is under construction. Construction started in the first quarter of 2014 and the complex is expected to be operational by 2017, and fully commissioned in 2018. Nearly 1,000 skilled workers and staff will be employed.

In 2013, CMS increased its Investor Relations (IR) activities which included an increase in shareholder meetings, private meetings with the financial community and participation in investment related conferences. As the senior management had then felt that the company had rationalised its businesses to focus on key competencies within Sarawak and SCORE, there was a genuine story to share with the financial/investment community. The IR initiative proved to be extremely successful, and, before the turn of the year, the Group’s rank went up in terms of Market Capitalisation, becoming one of Malaysia’s Top 100 companies, benefiting its then existing shareholders and also its employees who had held shares via the Employee’ Share Options Scheme (ESOS). Around the same time, CMS started to grow in popularity with the investment community and its IR unit met with representatives (i.e. analysts, fund managers, research houses) from around the globe. CMS’ share price closed at RM6.87 on 31 December 2013; in comparison its share price had opened at RM3.32 at the beginning of the year on 2 January. CMS has since maintained its standing as a Malaysian Top 100 market cap company.

Cement Division signed the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Agreement with Christian Pfeiffer Maschinenfabrik GmbH for the development of a new grinding project at Mambong. The RM190 million integrated plant will have an annual rated production capacity of 1 million MT and will increase cement production capacity by almost 60%.

At around midnight on 22 September 2014, the first phase of commercial production was achieved when the ferroalloys were successfully tapped at around midnight (Sarawak time) at OM Sarawak’s Ferrosilicon and Manganese alloys smelting project in Samalaju Industrial Park (SIP). By the end of 2014, four furnaces were in operation. To mark this historic event, the first ferrosilicon slab to be tapped was removed and is kept in OM Sarawak’s office in SIP as an emblem.

The CMS story began in 1974 with the company working to establish the first cement plant in Sarawak. In the 40 years since then, CMS has transformed into one of Sarawak’s and Malaysia’s leading listed companies with a synergistic portfolio of businesses strongly focused on Sarawak and the economic opportunities arising from the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE). This has occurred in tandem with Sarawak’s own transformation from a State very visibly lagging behind the states of Peninsular Malaysia in terms of development into a State with exciting potential for growth – fuelled by its abundant and largely renewable energy resources, its people, its location and its proactive and stable leadership. Over the course of CMS’ 40-year history, it has achieved many milestones, and played a key role in Sarawak’s physical and economic development. The CMS 40^th Anniversary coffee table book, which was launched at the CMS 40^th Anniversary Celebration Dinner on 26 November 2014, provides fascinating insights into the rise of CMS and the development of the State of Sarawak in tandem with the growth of the Malaysian economy. View Video

On 26 March 2015, CMS announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd (SISB), entered into a Share Sale Agreement with OM Materials (S) Pte. Ltd. (OMS) for the purchase of an additional 5% equity interest in the Ferrosilicon and Manganese alloys smelting project in Samalaju Industrial Park (SIP). Under the terms of the Share Sale Agreement, the consideration payable by SISB to OMS for this transfer was USD18.45 million and CMS’ effective interest in the project is 25%; OMS’s effective interest is 75%. The purchase of the additional equity interest reflected CMS’ special focus in businesses that are part of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), and the Group’s confidence in this smelting project.