UPDATE 4-Saab, counterparts agree on govt's lifeline terms

* Agreement reported by Sweden's Debt Office

* Sweden had given conditional backing for Saab lifeline

* Deal would provide funds for cash-starved Saab

* Antonov says has lined up independent bank for Saab deal (Adds report of discussions with Chinese companies)

STOCKHOLM, April 18 (Reuters) - Dutch group Spyker's (SPYKR.AS) ailing Swedish carmaker Saab and its counterparties have agreed in principle on demands set by the government for backing a deal to free up much-needed cash, Sweden's Debt Office said on Monday.

The government on Friday gave conditional backing for cash-strapped Saab to sell real estate, including its production plant, to Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov and then lease it back.

The government's conditions were that Saab get a market price for the property, that questions about Antonov be cleared up, and that money for the purchase come from a European bank without links to Antonov. [ID:nLDE73E1Y2]

"We have held talks over the weekend based on the three demands that the government made on Friday. There is now an agreement in principle that looks good," said Debt Office spokeswoman Unni Jerndal.

She said the Debt Office had been in contact with Saab throughout the weekend and had been informed by Saab that the carmaker and its counterparties had reached an agreement in principle.

"It is about fulfilling these demands, and we see that it looks good. We will make the formal decision once the final details are settled," she said, adding that a decision would probably come soon.

The property sale is also subject to the approval of the European Investment Bank.

Lars Carlstrom, a representative for Antonov in Sweden, said earlier on Monday that Antonov had lined up an independent European bank to handle the payments.

"That issue has been resolved and there are no remaining questions regarding that point," Carlstrom said.

Carlstrom said the identity of the bank would only be disclosed once Sweden's national debt office had given the final green light for the deal to proceed.

The property deal aims to rescue Saab after a shortfall in 2010 sales meant it hit a cash-crunch this year. That led to unpaid bills to suppliers and a halt to production at its plant in Trollhattan, southwest Sweden, for the last two weeks.

Sweden said on Friday the proposed property deal with Antonov could bring an initial 30 million euros ($43 million) to Saab.

Antonov is also looking to take a nearly 30 percent stake in Saab which will boost its finances in the long term.

However, business daily Dagens Industri said Saab was not just relying on the Russian to bail it out.

The paper quoted sources saying Spyker has started discussions with two Chinese companies over a long-term solution to Saab's financial problems.

"They are working intensively on several parallel tracks about a sum of several billion crowns," DI quoted a source close to the process as saying.

"Among other things, there are discussions with two Chinese car companies about some kind of long-term ownership cooperation."

The sources did not name the companies involved.

Neither Saab nor Spyker's CEO, Victor Muller, were immediately available for comment.

Sweden still has to make a decision on a move by Antonov to return as a Saab shareholder, after Spyker blocked him from the original rescue of the carmaker last year due to opposition from former owner General Motors Co (GM.N). ($1=.6976 Euro) (Editing by John Wallace, Gerald E. McCormick and Carol Bishopric)