MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Evraz Group [LSE: EVR] said on Wednesday it had signed a deal to acquire majority stakes in selected production assets in Ukraine.

Evraz Group said the acquisitions included a 99.25% stake in the Sukhaya Balka iron ore mining and processing complex with annual production of 3.75 million tons of iron ore, and a 95.57% stake in the Dnepropetrovsk Iron and Steel Works with annual output of 1.8 million tons of pig iron and 1.23 million tons of crude steel.

The group, a leading Russian steel and mining company, said it had also acquired three coking plants with total annual capacity of 3.52 million tons of metallurgical coke.

Evraz Group said it would pay for the acquisitions with cash and new equity.

"The acquisition will allow us to increase iron ore self-sufficiency and ensure further upstream integration... This deal also represents another step in Evraz's geographical diversification into one of the lowest-cost steel producing regions," Evraz Group Chief Executive Officer Alexander Frolov said.

Once the deal is approved by the company's board of directors, it will not be subject to any other approvals and is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2008, Evraz said.