Brazil Gerdau names new CEO in management shuffle

Brazil's leading producer of long rolled steel, on Tuesday said a son of its longtime chief executive would take the reins of the company next year as part of a broader management reshuffling.

Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter, who turns 70 next year, will step down as president and CEO on Jan. 1, but will stay on as chairman, Gerdau said in a statement.

Replacing him will be one of his sons, Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, who recently returned to Brazil after running Gerdau's operations in the United States. At 43, he will be one of the youngest CEOs of a major Brazilian company.

The change is part of a larger management restructuring that Gerdau has been planning since July 2002. The company also created a chief operating officer post, which will be occupied by Claudio Gerdau Johannpeter, a nephew of the outgoing CEO.

Gerdau, which was founded in 1901 as a nail manufacturer in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, is one of the leading steelmakers in the Americas. It has operations in nine countries, including the United States and Canada.

The company recently expanded into Europe, where it has a 40 percent stake in the Spanish steelmaker Sidenor. On Monday, Gerdau said it had reached an agreement to acquire one of Sidenor's subsidiaries, GSB Acero, for about 111.5 million euros in cash and 11 million euros in debt.

The management shakeup was announced as market speculation mounts that Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter might assume a cabinet post in the next administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Gerdau Johannpeter has denied that he intends to join the government.

(Published by Reuters, November 21, 2006)