Former GM exec agrees to head Russia's GAZ board

MOSCOW, June 15 (Reuters) - Russian indebted carmaker GAZ (GAZA.RTS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it had invited a former General Motors Corp GM.N executive to head its board of directors.

"The ex-vice president of GM, Bo Andersson, has expressed his agreement to take the post of the chairman of the board of directors of GAZ," the company said in a statement.

"There were preliminary discussions with him about the possibility of his election as the head of the board of directors, and the shareholders hope that his candidature will be elected," Russia's second-largest carmaker added.

GAZ, along with Russia's largest lender Sberbank (SBER03.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) and Canadian car parts group Magna (MGa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) is on track to buy GM's GMGMQ.PK German carmaker Opel [ID:nL9549690].

GAZ is the industrial partner in the deal, which Russia hopes will bring in Opel's expertise and a chance of a technical breakthrough in its ailing car industry [ID:nL6729372].

GAZ is controlled by businessman Oleg Deripaska.

The board of directors will be elected at the June 29 annual general meeting. The company said shareholders would request an extraordinary meeting in order to add Andersson's name to the list of candidates.

Andersson was the global purchasing manager at GM until this month, and is currently a consultant for the GAZ board and an advisor on car building to Deripaska. (Reporting by Anton Doroshev; writing by Toni Vorobyova; editing by Simon Jessop)