On September 2, global credit rating company Fitch Ratings affirmed the foreign currency and local currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) of US-based long steel producer Gerdau SA.
Accordingly, the company's foreign currency long-term (LT) IDR is listed at ‘BBB-', while its local currency long-term IDR is at ‘BBB-‘ and the national scale rating is at ‘AA+ (bra)'.
Fitch has also assigned IDRs to the issuers of Gerdau's guaranteed debt as Gerdau Holdings Inc. foreign currency LT IDR at ‘BBB-‘ and GTL Trade Finance Inc. foreign currency LT IDR at ‘BBB-‘.
Gerdau's investment grade ratings are supported by the company's swift response to curtail operations and manage costs during last year's global downturn, while maintaining a strong balance sheet position through the bottom of the industry cycle, Fitch commented, concluding that the company's outlook looks stable.