Julio Ponce Lerou

Julio Ponce Lerou is a Chilean billionaire who is the principal shareholder of Soquimich. He is a former son-in-law of Augusto Pinochet. Until 1982 he was president of Chilean state-owned forestry company Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli while he was simultaneously president of CELCO, a wood pulp company.

  • Julio Ponce Lerou owns a 30% stake in Sociedad de Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), a publicly-traded chemicals and mining company.
  • He is a former son-in-law of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and SQM was privatized by Pinochet’s government in the 1980s.
  • SQM is one of the world’s largest miners of lithium, which is used in batteries for electric cars.
  • For almost 40 years Ponce headed SQM, which also mines and sells potassium nitrate and iodine — chemicals used in fertilizers.
  • He resigned as chairman of SQM in April 2015, citing personal reasons.

Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli Julio Ponce Lerou