Severstal has been in talks with several investors to sell its controlling stake in Lucchini or a part of it, Russian and Italian media have reported in the past few weeks.
'There have been nine expressions of interest which Severstal has reduced to five after the first evaluation,' Mario Ghini, national secretary of UILM union in charge of the steel industry, said in a statement.
'From next Monday, interested financial and industrial groups will start visits to be able to make an offer,' Ghini said quoting Lucchini's Chief Executive Marcello Calcagni.
Severstal declined to comment on the matter. There was no immediate comment from Lucchini.
Lucchini, Italy's leading steel maker, makes about 2.2 million tonnes of steel a year at its Piombino plant in Tuscany, but production was slashed in 2009 as the global economic crisis hit demand.
Severstal has also been hit by the crisis, but returned to profit in the third quarter of 2009 thanks to a strong performance at its domestic mills.
Its foreign assets however remained loss making, with Severstal noting that the trading environment remained difficult for its European business in the third quarter.
Lucchini had negative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $212 million in the first nine months of 2009, according to Severstal's latest results report.
(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova; Additional reporting by Polina Devitt in Moscow; Editing by Keiron Henderson) Keywords: SEVERSTAL LUCCHINI/ (svetlana.kovalyova@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 661 29450; Reuters Messaging: svetlana.kovalyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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