POSCO, Korea's leading steelmaker, said Thursday that it has bought a stake in a Slovakian firm in a bid to beef up its sales in eastern Europe, it said Thursday.

The steelmaker and its affiliate Daewoo International Corp. signed a deal this week to buy a combined 10 percent of Trancerie Emiliane (TE) Slovakia, an affiliate of the Italy-based motor core manufacturer TE Group.

POSCO did not reveal financial terms of the deal.

"This is the milestone of POSCO and TE, which have been forging ties together over the last 20 years. We believe POSCO's strength in materials and TE's technology can bring about synergy," the steelmaker said.

The move came as POSCO has been stepping up efforts to acquire stakes of its client firms abroad to deal with growing competition in the steel industry. The company aims to garner a larger market share in Eastern Europe from the purchase, it said.

TE Group imports 70,000 tons of steel plates from POSCO annually. (Yonhap)