MILAN (Reuters) – Tyremaker Pirelli has postponed its planned board meeting by a day and it will now be held on Thursday, March 27, the company said on Wednesday, amid reports of tensions between leading investors.
Pirelli said the delay was for “reasons of an organisational nature,” but it suggests its Chinese and Italian shareholders might need more time to discuss the group’s ownership structure and governance arrangements.
Pirelli’s largest investor is China’s state-owned group Sinochem with a 37% stake and, according to sources, its presence is increasingly seen by Pirelli as a potential hurdle to its efforts to do more business in the United States.
Discussions are ongoing between Pirelli and Sinochem on how to further reduce the Chinese conglomerate’s influence on the tyremaker, the sources said, after the Italian government intervened in 2023, under so called ‘Golden Power’ regulation, to curb its powers and shield the autonomy of Pirelli management.
Options on the table could include convincing Sinochem to progressively divest from Pirelli, while alternative options could entail Rome removing Sinochem’s voting rights in Pirelli, one of the sources said.
Pirelli’s second largest investor is Camfim, the vehicle of businessman Marco Tronchetti Provera, who has led Pirelli since 1992 and is now its executive vice-chairman.
Camfin owns a 26.4% stake in Pirelli and has plans to increase it to 29.9%.
(Reporting by Philippe Leroy Beaulieu and Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Keith Weir)
