Gerdau

Gerdau was founded by Johannes Heinrich Kaspar Gerdau, also known as 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 arrived at the port of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul and, at only 20 years of age, established himself in Colônia de Santo Ângelo , where he invested in trade, transport and the subdivision of land. He moved to the town of Cachoeira do Sul in 1884, where he founded an important General Store. Always seeking new opportunities, João Gerdau moved again, this time to Porto Alegre, with his wife Alvine Gerdau and his three children, Hugo, Walter and Bertha. There he went into industry, buying the Pontas de Paris Nail Factory in 1901 marking the entry into steel industry.

Curt Johannpeter's entry into the Gerdau family marked the beginning of a new direction for the company. Born in Germany in 1899, Curt Johannpeter made his career in finance. In 1922 he began to work for the German Transatlantic Bank, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. In 1930 he became the branch inspector for Portugal, Spain and Latin America, and in the same year was introduced to the young Helda Gerdau during a trip to Brazil. They married and had four sons: Germano, Klaus, Jorge and Frederico. In 1946, Johannpeter took the wheel of the Gerdau company and oversaw a critical phase in its expansion.

See history of Gerdau