Gerdau S.A. is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, and the 33rd largest steelmaker worldwide, with approximately 13 million tons of production in 2023. Gerdau uses mini mills, integrated mills, and direct reduced iron plants; 71% of the steel manufactured by the company is made from recycled scrap. In 2023, 39% of sales were to Brazil and 39% of sales were to North America.

Substantially all of the common shares of the company are owned by Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter and his family; however, non-voting preferred shares, representing a minority interest in the company, are publicly traded.

History

Gerdau was founded as the Pontas de Paris nail manufacturing business by João Gerdau, a German migrant who left the port of Hamburg for Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, in 1869 in search of new business opportunities.

He passed the business to his son, Hugo Gerdau, who, in 1946, passed it to his son-in-law Curt Johannpeter. After the end of World War II, the nail factory struggled to find raw material. To secure raw materials, the company acquired a steel mill in 1948. By the 1960s, the mill was at capacity and in 1967, the company acquired a minimill in São Paulo. In 1969, the company was renamed Metalúrgica Gerdau S.A. In 1970, the company became a public company via listings on the Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange and São Paulo Stock Exchange. In the 1980s, the company acquired more steel mills during the privatization of state-owned Brazilian steel companies. By the end of the 1980s, the company had a 40% market share in long steel in Brazil and faced regulatory scrutiny for further acquisitions. In 1983, Curt Johannpeter died and his sons took over management of the business.

In 1989, the company expanded to Canada with the acquisition of Courtice Steel.

During the 1990s, the company expanded its operations in Brazil through the acquisition of Companhia Siderúrgica da Guanabara (COSIGUA) and several affiliated firms. Among these were L. Herzog Indústria e Comércio Ltda. and its associated construction‑supply brand Armafer from founder Leon Herzog, which had been integrated into COSIGUA’s operations and were later incorporated into the Gerdau Group as part of its strategic growth initiatives.

In March 1999, the company's American depositary receipts were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In August 1999, the company expanded to the U.S. with the acquisition of 75% of AmeriSteel from Kyoei Steel of Japan; production outside Brazil then accounted for 40% of the company's business.

21st century

In 2002, Courtice Steel and AmeriSteel were merged into Co-Steel, a publicly traded Canadian steel manufacturer, which was then renamed AmeriSteel. In November 2004, it acquired North Star Steel from Cargill for $266 million. In 2003 Co-Steel and Gerdau merged 11 assets with annual manufacturing capacity of more than 6.8 million tons of finished steel products, among which were: Gerdau Courtice Steel, based in Cambridge, Ontario; Gerdau MRM Steel, based in Selkirk, Manitoba; and AmeriSteel, based in Tampa, Florida. The entity was renamed Gerdau.

In 2007, Gerdau acquired Chaparral Steel for $4.22 billion in cash. At the time, Chaparral was "the second largest producer of structural steel beams in North America, a major supplier of steel bar products and a leading North American recycling company."

In April 2008, it acquired from Quanex for $1.46 billion MacSteel, which then produced 1.2 million tonnes annually of steel and employed 1,600 people at six locations across the US.

Also in 2007, Gerdau acquired a 30.45% stake in Industrias Nacionales (INCA), the largest steel producer in the Dominican Republic, for $42 million. In October 2014, INCA merged with Metaldom to form Gerdau Metaldom.

In August 2010, the company paid $1.7 billion to take full ownership of AmeriSteel, its North American unit. At the time, Gerdau claimed to be "the largest producer of long steel in the Americas" and have "plants in 14 countries spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia, with total installed capacity of more than 25 million tonnes of steel."

In September 2010, the company acquired for $165 million Tamco, which was "a mini-mill steel producer of reinforcing steel bar" based in Rancho Cucamonga, California and "one of the largest rebar mills in the Western U.S. with annual capacity of approximately 500,000 tonnes."

In January 2018, the company sold its wire rod mill in Beaumont, Texas and two downstream facilities to Optimus Steel for $92.5 million.

In November 2018, the company sold 33 rebar manufacturing facilities and 4 EAF mini mills to Commercial Metals Company for $600 million. Included in the transaction were facilities located in Knoxville TN, Jacksonville FL, Sayreville NJ and Rancho Cucamonga CA.

In 2019, it sold its manufacturing facility located at Tadipatri India for $120 million and thus sought to refocus only on the Americas.

In 2019, the company formed Gerdau Graphene in partnership with the Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre (GEIC) at the University of Manchester. It is involved in the development and commercialization of graphene additives and materials for industrial applications.

In December 2020, the company acquired the Brazilian plant Siderúrgica Latino Americana (Silat) for $110.8 million.

In March 2024, the company sold its assets in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, including its interest in Metaldom, to INICIA for $325 million.

In September 2024, the company acquired Dale's Recycling, an auto scrap recycler in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, for $60 million.

In 2025, the company acquired the minority interests in Gerdau Summit Aços Fundidos e Forjados S.A. of Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo which "specializes in cast and forged steel products with an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons" from Sumitomo Corporation and Japan Steel Works for a total of $32.6 million.

Controversies and legal issues

Charges of bribery, tax evasion, and money laundering (2016)

In March 2015 and in February 2016, Gerdau's offices in São Paulo, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Porto Alegre, the company's headquarters, were raided by the Brazilian federal police as part of Operation Zealots, a probe into tax fraud. The company and then CEO André Bier Gerdau Johannpeter personally were sued on claims that "executives bribed tax authorities, defrauded Brazil's tax revenue service of $429 million, laundered illegal funds and carried out influence peddling". In 2017, the company agreed to pay $15 million to shareholders to settle the claims.

See also

• List of steel producers

References

External links