Russian oligarch to buy another motor company

Employees of the previously popular Italian company, a maker of expensive sports motorcycles may hope now that their company will have a bright future. A man of the Russian origin, owner of the Blackpool sports car manufacturer TVR, promised to help Benelli extricate from the crisis and retrieve its popularity in the world.

The person's name is Nikolai Smolensky: the 25-year-old man is the son of a well-known Russian banker, Alexander Smolensky.

PistonHeads magazine wrote with reference to its sources in the TVR that the acquisition of the motorcycle-making company originally sprang from Nikolai Smolensky himself.

"Nick was happy to buy it. That is why they prepared some space to organize Benelli's production on the factory," a source that wished to remain anonymous told the magazine, informs Pravda.ru.

According to Auto Industry News, Benelli was formed in 1911, and became most acclaimed internationally in the 1960s, when it produced a bike with a six-cylinder in-line engine. In 1995 Andrea Merloni took charge of the business, which combined the production of scooters with superbikes in low volumes but was frequently hit by financial crises.