UPDATE 1-Russia's Mechel postpones share issue indefinitely

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MOSCOW Aug 8 (Reuters) - Mechel (MTL.N), Russia's largest producer of coal for the steel industry, on Friday postponed a preferred share offering indefinitely as its stock struggles to recover from a massive sell-off following government criticism.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attacked Mechel's pricing policy on July 24 and, four days later, accused the miner of tax evasion. The comments erased $8 billion, or around half of Mechel's value, in the space of three trading days.

Mechel had planned to conduct the placement of 55 million preferred shares on Aug. 11, through which it had hoped to raise over $2.5 billion, after earlier postponing it from late July, just before Putin's first comments.

The New York-traded company said in a regulatory statement on Friday that no new date had been set for the offering.

Mechel, controlled by billionaire Igor Zyuzin, had set a price of $50.50-60.50 per share for the offering. Even at the lower end, this was 38 percent higher than its closing price on July 23, the day before Putin's first public criticism. Its shares dipped as low as $16.12 on July 28, although have since pared losses to close at $24.07 on Thursday. (Reporting by Robin Paxton; Editing by Louise Ireland)