MOSCOW, March 3 - Ukraine's Metinvest is thought to be among the potential buyers of Severstal's Lucchini plant in Italy.

Steel Business Briefing quoted sources as saying potential buyers started to perform due diligence at Lucchini on Monday.

The sources said the potential buyers included four industrial companies and one fund. Two of them are rumored to be Italian, perhaps Riva and the Lucchini family itself, despite the latter having sold an option to buy the remaining 20% of the Lucchini company to Severstal.