History

The LUVENA Company, which is a manufacturer of fertilizers and wood treatment chemicals, was established in 1914 by dr Roman May, an entrepreneur and teacher from the Wielkopolska region. Before the factory was actually opened, May’s enterprise underwent certain prior developments. As early as in 1877 the entrepreneur, with his family’s help, purchased the land in Starołęka near Poznań to build a manufacture of fertilizers there, which was then a very important plant for the farmers of the Wielkopolska region. The following year, the production of super-phosphate began there. The materials for production were imported from Tunisia, which was an outstanding achievement from the viewpoint of logistics possibilities at that time. During the ninth year of the factory’s functioning, its owner unexpectedly died, leaving a memorable curriculum vitae, from which certain parts of the last advertisement of the company had been taken, saying:

"I have been personally responsible for diligent and professional management of my company, therefore I may provide my Respectable Clients with a guarantee of careful and timely service (...) My objective is to eliminate foreign competitors and provide clients for domestic industrial production".

After May’s death, the factory was taken over by his wife Helena. A few years later, another famous citizen of Wielkopolska, Cyryl Ratajski, joined the management of the company. These two people put a lot of effort in the plant’s development. The plant soon became a serious competitor for another enterprise from the same industry, which was owned by a German Moritz Milch. In 1907, Milch began his next investment project, i.e. the construction of a modern plant in Luboń. The plant was opened in 1914 as one of the most advanced fertilizer factory in Europe, capable of producing 120 thousand tons of super-phosphate per year. Milch was a manager of this company for the subsequent six years. In 1920 Milch sold his factory in Luboń to the quickly developing Joint Stock Company, based on Roman May’s original factory, for 12 million mark. The Joint Stock Company, headed by Cyryl Ratajski, soon developed into the largest chemical industry organization in Poland, including the plant in Luboń.

The business of the company was interrupted in 1939. Production was re-introduced after the war, when the company was nationalized.

After the war, the company continued to develop, implement new investment projects and increase the product assortment. In the early 1990s, the company began to operate in market environment and after four years of re-structuring, in 1994 it became a Joint Stock Company. The following year the Chemical Plant Luboń S.A. was covered by the program of National Investment Funds in order to function within this program until 1999. In this year, the company was taken over by the „Luboń Management” partnership, developed by the managers of the plant.

In 2002 another organizational change took place. The Luboń Management Ltd. Company has taken over the Chemical Plant Luboń S.A. and, as a result of this merger, the Zakłady Chemiczne Luboń spółka z o.o. [Luboń Chemical Plant Ltd.] Company has come into existence. In 2008 company has changed the name to LUVENA.