The head of Russia's Sberbank says the bank does not intend to hold on to a 35% stake in European car maker Opel in the long-term and could sell it on to a Russian investor.
German Gref said the aim of the state bank's participation in Opel's rescue was to help Russia's car industry and economy, which already faced declining demand for its low-tech cars even before the economic crisis hit.
Gref, an influential former economy minister, praised the Canadian car parts company leading the rescue of Opel, Magna International, saying the company 'knows the Russian market well'.
Under a deal agreed last weekend to rescue the German-based arm of America's General Motors, Sberbank is to acquire 35% of Opel. It has joined forces in the deal with troubled Russian car maker GAZ, owned by oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Magna has already made major investments in the Russian company's plant in the provincial city of Nizhny Novgorod.
On Monday GAZ said it would be ready to start making Opel vehicles within six to nine months if such a decision was taken by the Opel rescue consortium.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made a priority of reviving Russia's ailing car industry, associated in the public mind with low-tech Soviet-era cars such as GAZ's Volga.
