FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Finnish stainless steelmaker Outokumpu's (>> Outokumpu Oyj) efforts to sell VDM, its high-performance alloys business, has attracted preliminary bids mainly from private equity firms such as Triton, Apollo and KPS Capital, a German daily reported.

Handelsblatt said in a report due to be published on Monday, citing financial sources, that the bids were in the high three-digit million euro range, below the 1 billion euro ($1.3 billion) level Outokumpu had in mind.

A decision will be made soon on selection of a short-list of candidates, it said.

VDM is part of stainless steel producer Inoxum, which German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp (>> ThyssenKrupp AG) sold to Outukumpu last year.

In May this year, Outokumpu said it might sell VDM, indicating it was struggling to turn a profit from its acquisition of Inoxum.

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(Reporting By Marilyn Gerlach)

Stocks treated in this article : ThyssenKrupp AG, Outokumpu Oyj