Ukraine to auction steel mill, again

KIEV, Ukraine, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Ukraine plans to privatize a huge steel mill that recently changed hands in a widely criticized procedure.

The Kryvorizhstal mill was sold in 2004 for $800 million to an investor group that included the son of then-President Leonid Kuchma, the BBC reported Wednesday. Kuchma's successor, Viktor Yushchenko, had the sale ruled illegal and canceled.

Yushchenko's government then ordered another auction, which came into question earlier this month when the president sacked that government, including his prime minister.

Kryvorizhstal will consequently go on the block Oct. 24 as planned.

At least one foreign group, a consortium of LNM and U.S. Steel, has offered $1.5 billion for the facility, which employs 52,000 people and had pre-tax profits of about $300 million last year.