CIRES was established in 1960 as a joint-venture between Portuguese and two industrial Japanese companies being therefore the first industrial Portuguese-Japanese joint-venture in Europe. CIRES started up with an initial common stock of 100,000 euros. The main company’s shareholders were Mitsui & Co. (holding 25 percent) Shin Etsu &Co. (holding 25 percent), Bank Português do Atlântico (holding 20 percent) and Bank Pinto & Sotto Mayor (holding 15 percent).The common stock has been gradually increased up to the present amount of 15,000,000 euro.

Shareholders’ composition has suffered some alterations over the years. Yet Shin Etsu Chemical. Co. Ltd. has always kept a significant shareholding position in CIRES.

Following the Public Offer for the Acquisition of CIRES, launched by its affiliated Shin Etsu International Europe, B.V., Shin Etsu, a leading company in the world markets of the manufacturing technologies of suspension PVC resins, bought the whole of CIRES common stock.

In Portugal, CIRES pioneered the manufacture of thermoplastics materials. Since the beginning the high quality standards of its products and the support of its technical assistance to clients made CIRES presence be felt in the market and were also key - in a decisive period of the development of the plastics processing industry – to the gradual progress of PVC consumption and to the strengthening of The company’s activity.

CIRES plant started up in 1963 with a name plate capacity of 3 600 tons/year, and producing only suspension PVC (S-PVC) whose registered trademark is still VICIR-S. In 1982, emulsion PVC started to be manufactured for paste grade resins, the VICIR-E.

The constant up dating of the industrial facilities has been a permanent concern of the company’s leadership. CIRES therefore has one of the most modern and competitive industrial plants in Europe equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, in order to attain high standards of performance namely as far as productivity and Quality assurance are concerned.