Hyderabad : 

Gerdau, a leading producer of special steel in the Americas, today announced majority ownership of its first plant in Asia at Tadipatri, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh.

The company also changed the name of its domestic operations from Kalyani Gerdau to Gerdau.

In 2007, Gerdau had entered into a joint venture with Kalyani group company — Kalyani Steels Ltd to acquire SJK Steel Plant Ltd with an equal partnership of 45 per cent each. Post acquisition of Kalyani’s shares, the operation is now majority owned by Gerdau.

Recently, the plant has started operations of its blast furnace, melt shop, sinter plant, power plant and rolling mill. It has an installed capacity of 3,00,000 tonnes of special steels, mainly focused on the automotive market.

“As we begin our 112th year of business, the start of production of special steel in India represents our expansion to an important country,’’ said André B. Gerdau Johannpeter, Gerdau’s CEO.

“This move paves the way for Gerdau to come to India and cater to the domestic market,’’ said Arvind Mathur, Executive Director-India for Gerdau.

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home / by M. Somasekhar somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in  / Hyderabad, March 18th, 2013