On 31 March, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. received a notification letter from China National Chemical Corporation Ltd. (ChemChina) stating that ChemChina had received a notice regarding its restructuring and that of Sinochem Group Co., Ltd., (Sinochem Group) from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), a commission of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
Aeolus Tyre Co Ltd and its controlling shareholder, China National Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd (CNRC, which is itself owned by Chinese petrochemical giant ChemChina) executed a “share entrustment agreement” on 30 November 2020. According to the agreement, CNRC will “entrust” its 52 per cent shareholding in Prometeon Tyre Group Srl to Aeolus for three years. But the three-year term will be automatically renewed upon expiry.
On 23 January 2020, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. received a notification letter from its largest shareholder, China National Chemical Corporation Ltd. (ChemChina), informing the firm that it is undergoing “strategic restructuring”. The restructuring notice covered both ChemChina and Sinochem Group Co., Ltd.
Market rumours that Pirelli is considering a €9 billion (£7.7 billion) merger with Finland’s Nokian Tyres have been quashed by company spokespeople. Reports that such a deal was on the horizon emerged in mid-January and were then fuelled by re-reporting in the British and Italian press. However, these stories are “without foundation”, according to two Milan-based Pirelli spokespeople that Tyres & Accessories interacted with. Nokian has yet to comment.
A three-year extension to the Shareholders’ Agreement covering the governance of Pirelli & C. S.p.A was agreed upon yesterday. This extension will take effect from the publication date of the notice convening the Pirelli shareholders’ meeting for approving the company’s 2019 financial statements.
An addition to the executive silverware cabinet: During last week’s Fortune China CEO Summit, Sinochem ChemChina and Pirelli chairman Ning Gaoning was the recipient of a Fortune CEO Lifetime Achievement Award.
As expected, Ning Gaoning has been co-opted to the Board of Directors at Pirelli & C. S.p.A. and appointed chairman. Ning, who is also chairman of Chinese state-owned petrochemical and fertiliser company Sinochem as well as chairman of Pirelli parent company ChemChina, succeeds Ren Jianxin. Ren relinquished all roles he held on the Board of Directors at Pirelli & C. S.p.A. on 30 July.
As a consequence of his announced retirement as chairman of China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina), Ren Jianxin has resigned from all roles he held on the Board of Directors at Pirelli & C. S.p.A. His resignation took effect 30 July. Pirelli has officially thanked Ren for his “contribution to the company in these years.”
Ren Jianxin has retired as chairman of ChemChina. His successor has been named as Ning Gaoning (Frank Ning), who concurrently serves as chairman of Chinese state-owned petrochemical and fertiliser company Sinochem. Ren’s replacement by the chairman of ChemChina’s rival is considered by many a precursor to a merger between the two firms, an arrangement that would create a group with annual turnover in excess of £100 billion.
The integration of Prometeon Tyre Group (the former Pirelli Industrial business) and Aeolus Tyre Co. Ltd has stalled after Aeolus’ pending acquisition of a 90 per cent stake in Prometeon failed to gain overseas acquisition approval from Chinese authorities before the 31 December 2017 deadline.
If Pirelli’s sale to the ChemChina-led consortium in 2015, along with the legal and integration work in 2016 wasn’t enough, 2017 is proving to have been another complex and busy year for Pirelli. The last 12 months have seen the company pass two key landmarks in its post-acquisition strategy: the separation of the industrial tyre business (including industrial, truck, OTR and agricultural operations) into the new Prometeon Tyre Group in the first part of year; and the successful re-listing of the Pirelli in the autumn. The latest news is that Pirelli’s major shareholder – Marco Polo International – has increased its shareholding in Pirelli following the IPO by exercising a greenshoe option.
No I am not talking about the unqualifiable rumours that Doublestar made an offer of up to 250 million euros for Zenises. Rather, that in the first week of September we learnt that Doublestar’s proposed acquisition of Kumho was collapsing before the firm’s eyes after the Qingdao-Chinese tyre manufacturer asked for a double-digit discount. And it is also worth considering what all this means for the wider tyre manufacturing sector.
With one industry insider calling ChemChina’s acquisition of Pirelli “a genius move”, it would have been remiss of us not to take the opportunity to spend time with new Aeolus general manager Giovanni Pomati and find out more about how the changes affect the best-known ChemChina brand (Aeolus) and the company’s views on the latest changes in the Chinese marketplace during Tyres & Accessories recent visit to China.
Pirelli is set sell up to 40 per cent of its equity capital in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Milan stock exchange in October.
