Belmiro de Azevedo, one of Portugal's most successful businessmen who built his company Sonae into an international conglomerate, has died. In a statement Wednesday, his company said Azevedo died Wednesday, but gave no further details. Azevedo, who had been ill for several years, became boss of the Sonae manufacturing company, specializing in timber products, in 1967. Over the next 30 years, he built it into the largest non-financial Portuguese company, with operations in Europe, Africa and Latin America. Azevedo, the eldest of eight children born to a carpenter father and seamstress mother, left a wife and three children.

Source: ABC News November 29, 2017 18:05 UTC