US Steel sells Slovakia-based steel mill

U.S. Steel said it had received and was considering offers for its mill in Slovakia, 10 months after the Pittsburgh steelmaker had sold its steel plant in Serbia for $1.

Jan Baca, a spokesman for U.S. Steel Kosice, said it was prudent to consider the expressions of interest in the company and that "no decisions have been made at this time." He declined to identify the interested parties, citing confidentiality agreements.

Mr. Baca said the Kosice plant and its affiliates employed 13,000.

U.S. Steel acquired the former government-owned Kosice plant in 2003 for $475 million and expanded its Eastern European foothold three years later with the $33 million acquisition of Serbia's government-owned steel producer. Initially profitable, the ventures were battered beginning in 2008 by the European economic crisis.

The Slovak plant, which caters to the automotive industry and other higher-margin customers, has swung back into the black this year. It posted operating income of $27 million in the first nine months of the year on shipments of 2.9 million tons. By comparison, U.S. Steel's North American flat roll business shipped 12 million tons during the same period and generated operating income of $389 million.

Overall, U.S. Steel reported a loss of $74 million for the first nine months of the year, a figure that reflects interest and tax expenses.

Industry analyst Charles Bradford said Ukrainian or Russian steel producers might be interested in the Slovak plant. He said there had been rumors several months earlier that the German steel producer ThyssenKrupp, which was trying to unload its new steel processing plant in Alabama, was a potential suitor. But ThyssenKrupp said Monday it was not interested, Mr. Bradford said.

Whoever owns the plant is facing a significant investment in the years ahead. In a securities filing last month, U.S. Steel estimated it would have to spend $350 million to $400 million by 2016 to comply with new European Union environmental mandates that the Slovak Republic must adopt by January.