Sberbank, the Russian state-owned lender that took a quarter share in GM Europe last week, is to become the financing arm of a new Russian and Eastern European car manufacturing empire. It will be controlled by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian tycoon, and Magna International, the Canadian car parts company.

Behind the joint purchase by Magna and Sberbank of a 55 per cent controlling stake in GM Europe lies a separate Russian strategy, endorsed by the Kremlin, to build a carmaker with global reach. Within a year, Sberbank will transfer its interest in GM Europe to GAZ, which is developing Sibir, a new mass-market passenger car, at a factory in Nizhny Novgorod.

With the promise of €4.5 billion of German Government support, the rescue of Opel and Vauxhall provides a rare opportunity for a Russian company to secure brands, technology and billions of dollars of government cash to support the creation of a major Russian industry.

Dirk Pfeil, an Opel trustee with reservations about the project, says that at least €600 million in German state aid planned for Opel is earmarked for operations in Russia. In an interview to be published today in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the German newspaper, he says that “more than €600 million of the €4.5 billion [in German aid] is supposed to be used to modernise the Russian automotive industry according to the Magna plan. That means German expertise will soon be transferred to Russia and jobs will be cut here later,” he says.

Sberbank will use its vast banking network in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine as a marketing tool to develop a consumer-lending business that would satisfy pent-up demand for car ownership among Russians. The loan business would be marketed alongside the Sibir.

“They would be the GMAC in Russia,” an adviser to Magna said, referring to the consumer credit arm of General Motors. “The key problem for car-buyers in Russia is financing. Sberbank will use its branch network to provide financing or leasing arrangements.”

Only a fifth of Russians own cars and Sberbank has unrivalled access to the consumer market with 30 per cent of Russia’s banking assets, 20,000 branches and 260,000 staff.

The Sberbank and Magna deal last Thursday ended four months of wrangling over the future of the Opel and Vauxhall brands. The senior management of GM in Detroit initially balked at the transfer of GM technology to Russian control but the Magna/Sberbank consortium won concessions. John Smith, GM’s chief negotiator, acknowledged that the deal would enable Sberbank’s 27.5 per cent shareholding in GM Europe to be transferred to GAZ within a year.

The deal raised a triumphant political response in Moscow where Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, said: “This is one of the first steps that will take us towards real integration into the European economy.” German Gref, chairman of Sberbank, confirmed that Sberbank had the right to sell on its GM Europe shares to GAZ and he described the agreement as only the beginning. “This is a very important, intermediate stage in the transaction.”

The role of GAZ will be key in the transformation of Opel into a Russian car company while many of the factories in Western Europe that have been the subject of political hand-wringing are likely to play a lesser role in the Magna/GAZ strategy.

The Canadian company has a long-standing business relationship with Mr Deripaska whose company, Basic Element, bought a $1.5 billion stake in Magna in 2007, but the tycoon was forced to sell the interest to protect his empire amid last year’s financial turmoil.

Only weeks after Magna and Sberbank launched their bid for GM Europe at the end of May, Bo Andersson, a Swede who was group vice-president and head of purchasing for the GM, defected to GAZ.

German newspapers claimed yesterday that Magna planned to cut 10,500 jobs at GM’s European arm, of which about 4,500 would be in Germany.

The Belgian Government has demanded an EU investigation of the sale after news that GM’s plant in Antwerp is likely to close while GM’s four sites in Germany remain open.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax