Sweden forced a Russian billionaire out of Dutch carmaker Spyker on suspicion of shady dealings before allowing the group to take over Swedish-based Saab, a newspaper reported Saturday.
Business daily Dagens Industri, quoting a government official, said Swedish intelligence suspected Vladimir Antonov, who had a 30 percent stake in Spyker, of money-laundering and links to organised crime.
The intelligence report passed on to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation led Saab owner General Motors to reject an initial offer from Spyker in December and announce the shutdown of the Swedish firm, Dagens Industri said.
When the 400 million dollar deal was finally announced on Tuesday Spyker said its CEO Victor Muller would be taking up the whole of Antonov’s stake, without giving a reason.
Dagens Industri quoted a junior finance minister, Hans Lindblad, as confirming that a Swedish investigation into Antonov had led to GM blocking the deal with Spyker last month.
GM officials said Tuesday the deal calls for Spyker to pay 74 million dollars in cash and allow GM to retain redeemable preferred shares worth an estimated 326 million dollars.
Assuming quick action, the transaction is expected to close in mid-February.
Spyker said the terms call for an installment of 50 million dollars by the expected closing date of February 15 and for 24 million to be paid on July 15.
Sweden will guarantee a loan of 400 million euros (563 million dollars) from the European Investment Bank to support the transaction.
