Jan 13, 2011
GM to let Russian investor back into Saab
STOCKHOLM - GENERAL Motors is ready to let Russian businessman Viktor Antonov back as a shareholder of Swedish automaker Saab, a newspaper said on Thursday.
Mr Antonov, who has said he has been the target of false allegations of money laundering and other financial crimes, was ousted from last year's deal for Dutch sportscar maker Spyker to buy Saab. He later said he had hired private investigators to clear his name.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri, citing what it called information from its sources, said GM, which has US$326 million (S$421 million) of redeemable preference shares in Saab, was now ready to let Mr Antonov back as a shareholder.
Mr Antonov was not immediately available to comment on the report. Saab said it could not comment.
The report prepared on Mr Antonov's behalf, and which was finished in August last year, found no evidence of involvement by him or his Convers group in organised crime or money laundering.
It also found that neither Mr Antonov nor Convers had been the subject of investigations in the United States, Britain or Russia. -- REUTERS
