Foreigner: Moscow hopes to reanimate the domestic auto industry by buying Opel

One of the most attractive European brands - Opel - General Motors is inferior to the Austro -Canadian Magna and the Russian Sberbank . This topic is vividly discussed by the foreign press. The participation of Sberbank in the Magna consortium is an expression of the economic policy of Moscow, which hopes to reanimate the domestic auto industry. The British press is worried about the participation of Oleg Deripaska's deal.

The American giant General Motors, located on the verge of bankruptcy, chose to give in to the German Opel branch of the Canadian Magna. Magna’s proposal was supported by the Russian State Bank Sberbank and the Automobile Producer of GAZ. According to Inopressa.ru , citing the French Le Monde , despite the traditional distrust, the German government expressed its willingness to attract capital from Russia in order to avoid bankruptcy of one of the country's largest employers.

The new GM structure should go 35% of the shares, Magna - 20%, Sberbank - 35%, and 10% will be distributed among the company's employees. The core of the Magna rescue plan makes the Russian market, the publication points out.

And the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quotes German Gref, the head of the Russian Sberbank: "This is a very good chance for Russia to get at the unprecedentedly low price of one of the most advanced in terms of European manufacturer's technology."

According to the author of the publication, against the backdrop of a global financial and economic crisis, the bank has enough problems. According to the bank’s strategy until 2014, developed by Gref, although further expansion is provided for, we are talking about building a capable financial concern in the international arena, and not an industrial conglomerate, which includes car factories. However, state guarantees are a big plus of Sberbank, writes Frankfurter AllGemeine Zeitung.

The participation of Sberbank in the Magna consortium for the acquisition of Opel shares is not so much an autonomous decision of the bank itself as an expression of the state’s economic policy, the publication notes. With the help of Opel capacities, Moscow hopes to help the dying domestic auto industry. The Russian authorities are not interested in the fact that the gas -producer of GAZ Oleg Deripaska continues to continue to reduce jobs, the publication indicates, referring to the GAZ group, which in this project plays the role of an industrial partner.

Meanwhile, the British government is concerned about Deripaska’s connections with the Canadian Magna - the Canadian -Russian consortium intending to save the European assets standing on the verge of bankruptcy of General Motors, The Independent reports. The publication recalls that Oleg Deripaska’s automobile plant previously owned the LDV enterprise for the production of wagons in Birmingham, but in the conditions of the crisis, the oligarch was forced to sell it to the Malaysian WestStar. In addition, he was one of the first to receive anti -crisis help from the Kremlin.

“How can you deal with a person who recently abandoned LDV?” The unnamed official asks. “He had financial difficulties, so where did the money come from?”

Lord Mendelarson, Minister for British Business Affairs, is criticized for organizing a transaction profitable for Oleg Deripaska, continues the topic of The Daily Mail . As a result of the transaction, part of the production of cars of the British company Vauxhall Motors will probably be transferred to a Russian company whose controlling package belongs to one of Mendelssohn's close friends, correspondents write to their readers that the GAZ group together with Sberbank and Canadian Magna redeems the British division of Vauxhall and the German branch Opel at the General Motors Corporation, which starts bankruptcy proceedings on June 1.

The transaction is fraught with a reduction in thousands of jobs at automobile plants in England, the publication fears and reminds: Mendelssohn was previously accused of providing Deripaska of valuable benefits in trade.

VAUXHALL British cars are renamed Opel to ensure popularity in the Russian market,Times notes. “In Russia, no one knows what Vauxhall is,” the former Executive Director of Rover, Professor Kevin Morley, explained to the publication. "Rebranding in itself is not dangerous for jobs at Vauxhall factories in England," the expert believes. “If the Russians are going to import the Opel Astra model, the plant in Elmmer Port will even win,” Morley added. Oleg Deripaska’s Gas is going to establish Opel production in Russia, but this will take time, the publication emphasizes.