ChemChina chairman against Pirelli job cuts, pro Italian re-listing

Ren Jianxin: ‘one must do everything in one’s power to facilitate a marriage’

ChemChina’s chairman, Ren Jianxin, has publically reiterated his and his company’s commitment to completing its proposed takeover of Pirelli. Speaking to the Financial Times, Ren quoted a Chinese proverb and explained: “…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.”

Furthermore, following rumours that Bridgestone or another party may offer a competitive counter bid, Ren admitted he was worried such action could derail his plans. “I’m still worried about the deal, because after all it’s a public bidding process. Due to cheap liquidity, there might be blind counterbids that will hurt Pirelli investors and also the company’s longer-term strategy”, Ren told FT.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, Ren said he hoped to re-list Pirelli on the Italian stock exchange. This is significant because up to now there had been no indication of precisely where any future re-listing would take place.

Ren, like Tronchetti the week earlier, sought to reassure current Pirelli employees that there wouldn’t be mass job losses after the takeover. Instead, he emphasised the need to expand scale and increase market share: “That means we will need more people to join; there will not be redundancies.”

For further details on the deal, you can find in-depth coverage here: ‘Pirelli/ChemChina deal, the story so far‘. Alternatively, browse the ‘Pirelli’ and ‘ChemChina’ tags below.