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.
As senior management from Aeolus Tyre disclosed during a Reifen 2016 press conference, the Chinese tyre maker will soon be part of the world’s fourth-largest industrial tyre manufacturing company. This new tyre firm, which has yet to be named, will exist under the umbrella of state-owned concern ChemChina. In addition to Aeolus Tyre, the company will be comprised of Pirelli, which ChemChina acquired last year, and the Italian tyre maker’s new sister companies, Qingdao Yellow Sea Rubber and Double Happiness.
Now ChemChina has completed the purchase of Pirelli and the de-listing of the well-known Italian tyre firm’s shares, the first signs of how Pirelli will be integrated into the ChemChina tyre group are emerging. Walking onto the ChemChina stand, the first thing you notice is that the Pirelli logo now features at the head of a list of group-owned tyre business in at least two prominent positions on the large stand. While for many in Europe the sight of Pirelli alongside Aeolus, Double Happiness, Yellow Sea and Torch may feel a little strange, the obvious implication of ChemChina’s decision to present it this way is that we all need to start getting used to the new reality. Secondly, you can’t ignore that this move communicates the underlying intention to integrate Pirelli into the ChemChina group rather
With the news that Aeolus’ parent company, ChemChina, is now the majority shareholder in Pirelli via a complex ownership structure, we thought it would be fitting to mark the occasion with a few particularly interesting facts about ChemChina’s various tyre operations, which together put the firm’s tyre assets amongst the top three Chinese tyre makers in terms of output:
Bristol’s Unity Tyre distributes budget brand tyres in the UK, having established itself as an independent wholesaler with the objective of providing a “one-stop-shop” service. Unity’s spokesperson said the company works closely with “tyre manufacturing suppliers including SD International to ensure we meet the demands of our customer base with continuous quality products.” Unity also commented on major issues in the UK tyre wholesale sector covered in October’s Tyres & Accessories feature, and suggested that further volatility could lead to its contraction in the near future.
With ChemChina in talks to buy Pirelli, Tyres & Accessories presents a brief introduction to the Chinese firm
The China National Chemical Corporation (otherwise known as ChemChina) is Chinese a state-owned chemical, rubber and tyre business. Established in May 2004, ChemChina is run under the administration of SASAC (the Chinese State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission).
The first thing we have to consider is the size of the company. ChemChina is a Fortune 500 company and call itself China’s largest chemical company. Globally the firm places itself in 19th place.