La Long P comes off the Italian list. Pirelli leaves Business Square, as part of the operation that led to its purchase by ChemChina, closing a long and successful chapter in the industrial history of our country. Anima Holding took its place among the blue chips of the Ftse Mib. But it is not excluded that in a few years Pirelli will reappear on the list.
The Milanese company had entered the stock exchange fifty years after its foundation, in 1922 with Pirelli Sapa and in 1927 with Pirelli SpA (respectively, in stock market jargon, Pirellina and Pirellona), whose unification into a single listing took place instead in August of 2003. Now, after the conclusion of the reopening of the mandatory offer launched by the vehicle Marco Polo Industrial, the shares of the long P will be suspended starting from this morning and revoked in the session of November 6th.
Thus, a chapter in the history of Italian capitalism is closing, but the delisting of Pirelli does not represent the end of the company, nor, as hypothesized by the many who invoked an intervention by the Strategic Fund and F2i in the context of the acquisition, does it represent the loss, for our country, of one of the historical and successful realities of its industry.
This is clarified by the terms of the agreement mentioned in the press release released by Camfin at the dawn of the operation, when the binding agreement for the partnership with ChemChina was signed, which stated that "the central element of the agreement is the continuity and autonomy of the current managerial structure” and that the “headquarters and know-how” of the group would be kept in Italy.
Terms which were echoed by the declarations of the CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera (who will remain in the saddle until 2021 even with the new set-up), according to which "this operation will make Pirelli stronger and will reaffirm its roots". “Heart and mind – continues Tronchetti – will remain in Italy”.
More than an end, it is a metamorphosis, of an industrial subject that sheds its skin to join, if possible, even more with its own nature, that of a global excellence of Made in Italy, one of the best known and most recognizable local brands in the world.
There are many things that will change, starting from the majority shareholder, passing through the board up to the president, the number one of ChemChina Rex Janxin, who reiterated the concepts expressed by Tronchetti Provera on the fact that Pirelli will remain in Italy because "one cannot think of making a company grow outside the bed in which it has prospered".
The long P will remain itself, but will look even more towards foreign countries, because the operation mainly serves to provide a further boost to the growth strategy of the Milanese company, on the road that leads to the establishment of a group of global reach on all segments of the tyre.
And, beyond the last-minute nationalisms that often do not consider the industrial contingencies of a country, the takeover in ChemChina represents a great opportunity, because it can open wide for Pirelli the doors of the largest market in the world, the Chinese one, where the rate of car ownership, with all that this entails, is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. The future of a company is worth more than a flag.
