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.
($1 = 0.7693 euros)
(Reporting By Marilyn Gerlach)