Bells ringing from a church next to ChemChina’s headquarters yesterday morning provided a fitting soundtrack for the group’s chairman to explain its proposed €7.3bn takeover of Italian tyre group Pirelli.
“There is an old Chinese saying that it is better to knock down 10 temples than wreck one marriage,” Ren Jianxin, head of the state-owned chemicals group said. “It means that one must do everything in one’s power to facilitate a marriage. We are hoping that all the pieces can come together for our wonderful marriage with Pirelli.”
Mr Ren and his counterpart at Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, believe the Italian group, which has a strong position in the high-end automotive tyre segment, can use its partnership with ChemChina to bolster its comparatively weak industrial tyres division, especially in China. “Pirelli’s size in this [industrial] segment is limited,” Mr Ren said. “Pirelli needs an Asian partner to develop its industrial tyre business.”