ROME, Italy – The Italian government announced plans to limit the influence of Chinese corporation Sinochem on Italian tyre maker Pirelli, including establishing a qualified majority requirement for strategic decisions made by the company’s board.
Sinochem, Pirelli’s largest stakeholder with a 37% interest, informed the Italian government in March of its intention to revise its existing shareholder agreement with Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera, known as Camfin.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office is scrutinising the treaty amid increasingly strained relations between China and Western countries under regulations nicknamed “Golden Power,” which aim to preserve critical national assets.
According to Reuters, Rome was concerned about Sinochem’s rising control over Pirelli because the proposed agreement would have allowed Sinochem to choose more board members and potentially determine Pirelli’s future CEOs.
Last week, Rome stated that its planned constraints are intended at “protecting Pirelli’s autonomy,” and include a requirement that some strategic decisions by its board of directors be approved by at least 80 percent of directors.
According to the government, “the relevance of such a technology can be identified in a variety of sectors: industrial automation, machine-to-machine communication, machine learning, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, critical sensor and actuator technologies, Big Data and Analytics.”
Pirelli, which was founded in 1872, manufactures high-end tyres for luxury carmakers such as Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW, and is the sole tyre supplier for Formula One.
It is worth noting that Meloni’s government did not impose any harsher limits on Sinochem, such as denying it voting rights in Pirelli.
The Chinese business declared earlier this year that it intends to maintain its long-term involvement in the Italian tiremaker.
