[Business] Pirelli to be bought by ChemChina

[ddude_stnom]

Chinese takeover of Pirelli met with resignation in Italy
Source: Yahoo News

The takeover of tyre maker Pirelli by a Chinese firm sparked feelings of bitterness and resignation in Italy on Monday, as the cash-strapped country prepared to relinquish an iconic part of its industrial heritage.

Pirelli's largest shareholder Camfin said Sunday that it had signed a deal with ChemChina under which the state-owned chemical giant will buy into the world's fifth-biggest tyre manufacturer in a 7.4 billion-euro ($8.07 billion) deal.

It calls for ChemChina to eventually hold a controlling stake of at least 50.1 percent of the company renowned for its Formula One equipment and racy calendars.

Under the proposed terms, the company's headquarters and research centre would remain in Italy with current CEO Marco Tronchetti still in charge. Pirelli would eventually be split into two companies, one dedicated to high-end tyres, the other to industrial ones.

Tronchetti told employees in an internal note on Monday that the takeover was "a growth process which will take time, but in which I strongly believe and will engage in as both manager and shareholder."

ChemChina's bid "will allow us to take our growth strategy further with greater vigour," he said.

His optimism failed to rub off on Italy's main business leaders, most of whom appeared to accept that the eurozone's third largest economy, gasping for investment after the economic crisis, had little choice but to put up and shut up.

"Yesterday, one of the rare big Italian businesses changed owner," former centre-left premier Romani Prodi said.

"Today, industrial policy is made in Beijing.... (but) we're happy because before this even the Chinese didn't come to invest in the country," he said, calling on Italy to snap out of it and recover its own "strategic industrial policy."