Americom Signs Agreement With New Partner in Moscow Venture : Development: Proposed hotel and office complex, threatened by demise of the Soviet Union, appears saved.

Americom Business Centers Inc., an Irvine commercial developer being sued by disgruntled shareholders, has ended a yearlong search for a new Russian partner in its Moscow venture with the Radisson hotel group.

In a telephone interview from Moscow, Americom’s president and chief executive, Paul E. Tatum, said RadAmer--jointly owned by Americom and Radisson Hotel International--signed an agreement Friday with Mosintour to replace its original partner, Intourist.

When RadAmer originally signed with Intourist, that agency was responsible for the tourism trade in what was then the Soviet Union. But the partnership started to crumble about a year ago when the Russian Republic began flexing its new muscles to wrest economic and political power from the Kremlin, then headed by Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

After the failed coup attempt against Gorbachev by right-wing forces last August, Intourist’s Russian division was spun off and RadAmer, which signed the agreement with the Soviet government, was left without a partner.

Tatum said the new agreement is subject to approval by the boards of RadAmer and Mosintour, the former Intourist Russian division. Mosintour owns most of the hotel properties in Moscow and is a wholly owned company of the Moscow city government.

Mosintour, Tatum added, is negotiating to sell a portion of its 50% stake in the venture to several entities of the Russian Federation. The RadAmer board will have the option to accept or reject membership to its board of directors by any new partners who buy part of Mosintour’s stake, he said.

Under the agreement, four new members have been nominated to the board of the joint venture--known as the American Trade Center. They would replace the former Soviet representatives.

Other board members include Tatum and John Norlander, president of Radisson Hotels International.

Tatum said the new board will meet on May 30 in Moscow to complete the agreement and re-register the venture under new Russian laws as a joint stock company.

In the last 10 months, Tatum moved most of Americom’s key executives and personnel to Moscow in an attempt to save the foundering venture.

But it was the coup attempt last August and the quick unraveling of the Russian economy that preserved the Irvine firm’s role in the venture, according to a well-placed Russian official.

The agreement calls for Americom to set up and manage a business office center in the complex while Radisson is to operate the hotel.

“But Intourist’s intention was to kill Americom as a business partner,” said Anatoly Matytsin, director of the Russian Federation’s tourism agency in the United States.

“It’s intention was to work with Radisson in order to learn about managing a hotel . . . and to look for another partner to run the business center side of the venture.”

Tatum said he had no knowledge of Intourist’s plans.

While the venture is on track, Tatum’s troubles are not over.

He must now contend with a lawsuit brought against him and Americom by 11 disgruntled shareholders and a former Americom director.

The suit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., accuses Tatum of fraud in the sales, purchase and issuance of 400 million shares of Americom common stock and of misusing company funds.

The suit also alleges that Tatum reneged on a contractual agreement to redistribute a major portion of the 300 million Americom shares he held. The shares were to go to key members of Americom management who helped build the company, according to the suit.

Tatum owns about 54% of the company’s shares.

The suit asks the court to prevent Tatum from using Americom’s assets to defend himself and seeks an audit of Tatum’s expenses.

Tatum denied any wrongdoing and called the suit “harassment.”