Gerdau moves corporate headquarters to São Paulo

Brazilian steel group Gerdau is moving the bulk of its corporate headquarters from Porto Alegre to São Paulo, where the company's Brazil division is located.

Gerdau's headquarters have been in Porto Alegre, capital of southern Rio Grande do Sul state, for the last 116 years.

The remaining corporate areas of the company will be relocated to Gerdau's Riograndense plant, in Sapucaia do Sul, also in the southern state.

In a statement sent to to BNamericas, Gerdau said the measure will help the company streamline decisions by bringing more business areas closer to its operations.

"São Paulo is also home to the country's main financial market and the [Bovespa] stock exchange, on which the company's shares are more traded globally," the statement said.

Gerdau said the decision is part of the company's new corporate governance restructuring. Under the plan, CEO André Gerdau Johannpeter (pictured) and executive VPs Claudio Johannpeter and Guilherme Gerdau Johannpeter will step down next January 1. But the three executives will remain on the board of the family-controlled business, the largest long steel producer in the Americas.

Gerdau reported a consolidated adjusted net profit of 147mn reais (US$46mn) for the second quarter, compared with 184mn reais in 2Q16. Consolidated net sales reached 9.17bn reais, down 10.6% year-on-year.