WHEELING, W.Va. - Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. said Thursday it plans to sell 3.5 million shares of common stock to help pay down debt.

About 357,600 of those shares will be sold by the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association Trust, created to fund medical and life insurance coverage for thousands of retirees.

UBS Securities LLC and KeyBanc Capital Markets will manage the offering. The underwriters will have an option to purchase up to 525,000 additional shares.

Earlier this week, Wheeling-Pitt joined the Russell 3000 Index. Annual reconstitution of that broad-market index captures the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000.

The Russell indexes are widely used as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies.

Wheeling-Pitt stock (WPSC) closed at $20.80 with 87,167 shares traded on NASDAQ Thursday, down slightly from the previous closing of $20.86.

Wheeling-Pitt is recovering from nearly three years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It employs about 3,100 people at plants in Follansbee and Beech Bottom, in Allenport, Pa., and in the Ohio towns of Steubenville, Mingo Junction, Yorkville and Martins Ferry.