Brembo said on Tuesday it was starting a process to sell its entire stake in tyre maker Pirelli, worth around 300 million euros ($332 million), a move dampening speculation about a merger between the two Italian groups.
Premium brakemaker Brembo currently owns some 5.6% of Pirelli. It built its stake from 2020 to reach a 6% level at one point and also entered a shareholder agreement in 2023 with Camfin, the vehicle of Italian businessman Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli’s second largest investor.
Tronchetti Provera, who has led Pirelli since 1992, is now its executive vice chairman.
Shares of Formula One tyremaker Pirelli have risen almost 75% since Brembo bought its initial stake during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Brembo’s purchases fed speculation about an Italian shareholders’ block emerging within Pirelli to balance the influence of its largest shareholder, Chinese state-owned Sinochem Group, especially as the Rome government intervened last year to curb Sinochem’s grip on the company.
Speculation also pointed to a potential mid-term plan for a merger between the two companies to create an Italian heavyweight in the premium automotive parts industry.
Brembo has said in the past it was looking for opportunities for an acquisition of “significant size”, even as big as the company itself, but so far has never eyed a concrete target.
However the company – which is controlled by the Bombassei family with a stake around 70% – early this year moved its legal headquarters to the Netherlands to strengthen its loyalty share scheme and increase its ability to capitalise on M&A opportunities.
ACCELERATED BOOK BUILDING
Brembo is performing the sale of its Pirelli shares through a so-called accelerated book building process, which will start “immediately”, the Italian company said in a statement.
BNP Paribas has been appointed as sole global coordinator for the placement deal.
An ABB is a form of offering where banks act as bookrunners and in which shares are offered during a short time window, generally lasting between 24 hours to 48 hours.
Source: Reuters.com