Lisbon, Dec. 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The CIP - Portuguese Business Confederation on Monday expressed its sorrow at the death of António Mota, considering that, under his leadership, Mota-Engil became one of the country's most successful internationalisation stories.
In a statement, the CIP recalled that António Mota considered himself "African at heart", in reference to the importance of Angola in the launch of Mota & Companhia, the group's initial company, which expanded across three continents in the 21st century.
In the press release, the confederation points out that "Mota-Engil now has businesses in oil in Brazil, gold mines in Armenia and high-speed railways in Portugal [...] and that Mexico has become the group's largest market in the last decade".
The CIP presidency also said that, as executive president of Mota-Engil, "António Mota accelerated the construction company's growth and paved the way for the business diversification that we see today".
"He knew how to attract proven talent from the country's government to energise the company and support it in reading market trends and identifying emerging geographies," the statement continues.
"António Mota invested in strategic hubs for the company in Europe, Africa and the Americas, but kept Mota-Engil as it always was: a family-owned, Portuguese, European company based in Lisbon," the press release continues.
For CIP, the appointment of Carlos Mota Santos, António Mota's nephew, to lead the group "represented an exemplary way of creating a future and broadening horizons for a multinational that today employs 52,000 workers and operates in 21 countries."
Regarding the group's internationalisation, CIP also pointed out that "the way António Mota made strategic choices and made his group more competitive in the global market [is] a source of applause and inspiration for other companies".
"CIP offers its heartfelt condolences to António Mota's family, as well as to all Mota-Engil employees in more than two dozen countries," the statement concludes.
The former president of Mota-Engil, António Mota, died in Porto on Sunday at the age of 71.
Born in 1954 in Amarante, António Mota was the only son of four siblings and was prepared from an early age by his father - who had only completed fourth grade - to succeed him at the helm of the construction company he founded in 1946.
He graduated in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), spending his holidays throughout his studies on internships at various construction sites that Mota & Companhia had underway.
A fan of the “low profile”, António Mota valued weekends with his family and the family nature of the construction company he presided over. His leadership was marked by a strategy to diversify the group's activities, investing in new areas ranging from road concessions to port operations, waste, water, and logistics.
Currently present in 21 countries and three continents (Europe, Africa and America), Mota-Engil's main shareholders are the Mota family holding company (MGP), with 40.19% of the capital, and Epoch Capital Investments B.V., with 32.41%, and it is listed on the PSI, the main index of Euronext Lisbon.
In the first nine months of this year, Mota-Engil recorded profits attributable to the group of €92 million, a 20% year-on-year increase, with turnover in this period reaching €4.09 billion, a 1.4% year-on-year decline.
JFO/ADB // ADB
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