Pirelli will speak Chinese but its headquarters, management and research will remain Italian. The official announcement of the entry of the Chinese giant ChemChina into Pirelli is expected by the hour, even if the details will be released tomorrow shortly before the reopening of Piazza Affari. At the end of the fourth reorganization of Pirelli in a few years, Marco Tronchetti Provera's group, which will be confirmed at the top until 2012, will have more Chinese and fewer Russians but with an Italian presence.
According to the agreements, the Chinese will take over the 26% of Pirelli in the hands of Camfin by paying the shareholders 15 euros per share and at the same price they will launch the takeover bid with a new vehicle for which 7 billion euros are already ready.
If adhesion to the takeover bid, which will be launched by the Chinese together with the Italian and Russian partners, will be totalitarian, ChemChina will immediately have 65%, the Italians 22,6% and the Russians of Rosneft, displaced by the collapse in oil prices and of the ruble, 12,4%. The next objective is to temporarily withdraw the Pirelli stock from the Stock Exchange and start the industrial restructuring. Without the delisting, the Chinese would instead have 51% of the newco and the Italian-Russian axis 49%.
If Pirelli leaves Piazza Affari for the new reorganisation, its return to the Stock Exchange will only take place for its most noble part, namely premium tyres.
In the last-minute agreements, a rule emerged which leaves the headquarters, management and research of Pirelli in Italy and which provides that only with 90% of the capital can the Italian identity of the group be completely eliminated. But with this reorganization it is clear that a new season is beginning for Pirelli and above all for Italian capitalism: more foreign capital, more internationalization and less Italy
