It felt as if negotiations would go on for an eternity, with months of stalling: search this site for 'Opel bid' and the stories of stops and starts come thick and fast.  Now, just as it seemed that the deal was finally coming to a close, comes the spectacular announcement that GM will not in fact sell off its loss-making European unit Opel to the consortium of Canadian part-maker Magna and Russia's Sberbank, preferring to restructure it itself as the economic climate warms.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had pledged €4.5bn in loans may well be fuming and apparently Prime Minister Putin has chimed in with his consternation over the abortive deal, which had promised ...

The Interior Ministry's $755,900 tender for luxury furniture including a 24-carat gold painted bed has raised outcry among ordinary Russians losing sleep over money worries.  The bond is apparently part of a cost-crunching drive, to save money on hotels when foreign officials come to stay.  Aeroflot has become a Tier One sponsor of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, having signed a $100 million deal with the Black Sea city.  Diamond giant Alrosa will invest $500 million for developing homes, schools, and dams in Angola, where it has two mines.  The Finance Ministry has suggested that its plan to sell $58.5 billion of bonds in the next three years may be hindered by competition between the state and the private sector. Germany's economy ministry is reportedly prepared to make €4.5 billion in credit available to Magna-Sberbank to ...