The bizarre tale of the leading suitor for GM's European division.

At some point in the next few weeks General Motors (MTLQQ) will announce the winner in a monthslong contest to buy its European division, Opel. GM's British carmaker, Vauxhall, is thrown into the sale of the German brand with roots in the 19^th century. On its face, this might not seem like particularly dramatic stuff. But when you consider the oddball cast of characters and the fact that Opel might wind up saving the Russian auto industry, it becomes much livelier.

Earlier this year, it looked as if Fiat (FIATY) would try to buy Opel as part of an overall Detroit bankruptcy gambit that would include Fiat's merger with Chrysler. But that fell through, mainly because the German government was concerned that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne would sweep in and start cutting jobs and closing plants. It now appears that the likely winner is Magna International (MGA), a Canadian-Austrian auto parts supplier that has partnered with a Russian bank backed by the Kremlin. Its offer would give them a controlling 55 percent stake, with 35 percent for GM and 10 percent for German workers.

However, a Belgian firm, RHJ International, is also in the picture. The Germans favor Magna, but GM is worried that it will snag some non-Opel-related assets, including joint ventures with other carmakers and some guarded technologies that it doesn't want to share. Still, it seems increasingly likely that Magna will come out on top. The emerging deal has taken on the flavor of a genuine saga, complete with ambitious politicians, hard-charging businessmen, and powerful European labors leaders.

So, first things first: What the heck is Magna, anyway? And does the whiff of nefariousness—Kremlin! Putin! KGB!—that clings to the deal really mean anything in the end? Magna is a huge supplier of various essential components of car manufacturing, everything from sun visors to transmissions and convertible tops. It was founded by Frank Stronach, an incredible Canadian immigrant success story. He left Austria for Montreal in the 1950s with nothing, started what would become Magna a few years later, and now presides over a company worth billions that is trying to become a major player in the global auto industry. Back in 2007, Magna tried to buy Chrysler from Daimler but lost out to Cerberus Capital Management.

Stronach is a flamboyant enough character on his own—his other business is horse racing—without the Russian angle. But the Russian bank Sberbank is in the picture, and it's often seen as the de facto finance arm of the Kremlin. Russian automaker GAZ, which has connections to the government, is also involved: It's assumed that Opel technology can be used to modernize Russian car manufacturing and help the country repel the incursions of Western automakers, who see it as an exploding market in the future. GAZ is Russia's second-biggest carmaker and is owned by Putin-friendly oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

There are four different agendas at play in this deal, assuming that Magna remains the front-runner for the prize. General Motors needs to largely divest itself of Opel holdings in order to concentrate on being a successful carmaker in North America, Asia, and South America (which doesn't mean that GM might not buy some of Opel back one of these days—the division represents the lion's share of GM's European sales). Between Magna and RHJ, the former has the advantage of German government backing, but RHJ would protect certain aspects of GM's non-Opel related assets, as well as joint ventures, which would otherwise fall—and please excuse the Cold War/South Park evocations here—into Russian/Canadian hands.