A Russian Opel?

Opel may not be in the hands of the state-owned Russian bank Sberbank for long.

"Sberbank does not intend to become a strategic partner of Opel," said the company's head, German Gref, at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia on Thursday.

Speaking on television later, Gref said that the eventual investor may be a "Russian investor," but he did not go into details.

There are rumors that Sberbank plans to sell its stake to Russian Technologies, a large Russian firm that has interests in the aviation and car industry.

"The essential purpose of this purchase is to help in the restructuring of Russian assets," Gref said. "This union will be advantageous both for Russia and Germany. We will come out of this with minimal job losses."

The deal that brought Sberbank into the picture was agreed upon last week and gives the bank 35 percent of Opel. Austro-Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna will receive 20 percent, General Motors will retain 35 percent and Opel's workers will get 10 percent.

Sberbank is also cooperating with Russian automaker GAZ. Magna has made investments in the Russian carmaker's plant in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

This week GAZ announced that it would be ready to start making Opel cars inside of nine months if the Opel rescue group so decided.

av/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Nancy Isenson