Brazil-based steelmaker Gerdau S.A. has strengthened its capital structure with equity issuance, paying down debt and reinforcing its liquidity with this new equity. We are therefore revising our outlook on Gerdau to stable from negative and affirming our long-term corporate credit rating on the company at 'BBB-'. The stable outlook reflects our view that Gerdau will manage to improve its credit metrics, even under a scenario of fierce competition and lower margins. On Nov. 24, 2011, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Brazil-based steelmaker Gerdau S.A. to stable from negative. At the same time, the long-term corporate credit rating on Gerdau was affirmed at 'BBB-'. The outlook revision reflects our opinion that Gerdau will continue to improve
