Will Pirelli, will there be a tire scouring system with Italian banks in place of the Chinese Sinochem?
June 23 is approaching, the deadline for the intervention of the golden power on Pirelli. The government wants to protect the Italian spirit of the company, and its technologies, from Sinochem: the Chinese investor has become even more influential. Here is the point of the situation and the scenarios of the Sole 24 ore
Today is the day of the government hearing of Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli, which will concern the new shareholders' agreement for the company and the strengthening of the position of the Chinese petrochemical group Sinochem, shareholder with 37 percent: at risk c 'is the Italian spirit of Pirelli's management and its presence on international markets.
Already today, in fact, due to the duties imposed on Sinochem, Pirelli has stopped exporting to the United States. If similar measures were to be introduced by Japan, South Korea, Australia or the European Union, the repercussions on the company's accounts would be severe.
THE SITUATION, IN SHORT
At the end of May the new shareholders' agreement for Pirelli entered into force, which provides for a greater presence of Sinochem on the board of directors: the Chinese conglomerate will in fact bring its directors from eight to nine. Camfin – the holding company of Tronchetti Provera, a shareholder with 14 percent – will instead lose one, from four to three. The three independent directors will remain unchanged.
The agreement will last until 2025. After which the future managing director could be the expression of the majority list, i.e. the one headed by Sinochem. In other words, Pirelli's leadership may no longer be Italian.
The shareholders' agreement has been suspended until the government intervenes on the matter through the golden power : the last date is June 23, therefore it is possible that the decision will be taken next week.
WHAT WILL THE GOVERNMENT DO, MAYBE
The use of special powers on Pirelli seems to be certain; however, the form that government intervention will take is not clear. The voting rights of Sinochem's directors could be limited, but according to Il Sole 24 Ore this would be a move "counterproductive for a listed [company]: it would inhibit Chinese expansionist ambitions (including the request to share Pirelli data) but would entail a distortion in governance that the market could not fail to discount on the stock exchange".
Alternatively, it could be decided to change Pirelli's shareholding to reduce Sinochem's share: "a request in this case would trigger a public offer, placing a solution in line with market logic," explains the business daily.
CDP OR UNICREDIT + INTESA SANPAOLO?
Furthermore, an entry of Cassa depositi e prestiti, controlled by the Ministry of the Economy, is theoretically possible, but it does not seem probable. This is because, in the event that it were decided to proceed with the replacement of Sinochem as the main shareholder of Pirelli, UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo could rather take over, both present in the capital of Camfin.
CAMFIN AND BREMBO TOGETHER?
Already now, however, Camfin is able to bring its stake in Pirelli from 14 per cent to around 20 per cent thanks to the agreement – entered into last March and valid for three years – with another shareholder: Brembo, a company company of braking systems, which owns around 6 percent of Pirelli.
THE GUIDELINES OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA
As stated in the documents obtained by the Messenger , China has invited state-owned companies (such as Sinochem) to adopt the guidelines of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China on labor matters, aimed at increasing the degree of political control over companies and composition of management personnel.
ARE PIRELLI'S TECHNOLOGIES STRATEGIC?
Pirelli manufactures tires (even high-performance) for cars, and supplies Formula 1 cars. Its tire technologies can be considered critical because they communicate with the computers on board the cars through microchips: it is a connectivity model called “Internet of Things”, or IoT.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/pirelli-sinochem-cosa-succede/ on Tue, 06 Jun 2023 13:58:52 +0000.