ChemChina to take the M&A road to success

Ren said the deal will result in "revolutionary" change to ChemChina's tire business.

Pirelli will spin off its low-profit industrial tire business, merging that division with a unit of the ChemChina family, tire company Aeolus Tire Co Ltd, which is owned by ChemChina's subsidiary China National Tire &Rubber Co.

Aeolus, a middle-ranking tire producer in China, would become the world's fourth-or fifth-largest industrial tire manufacturer as a result of that move, according to Ren.

"Pirelli needs production scale for its industrial tires ... and expanding into China and Asia will ensure its sustainable growth," he said, noting that the Italian company already has a market share of about 80 percent in the global high-end commercial tire business.

ChemChina will benefit from Pirelli's technological, industrial and management expertise and its global distribution networks.

Michael Foundoukidis, an analyst with French investment bank Natixis SA, said that the Pirelli-ChemChina deal could shake up the tire manufacturing industry.

The fragmented Chinese tire industry, with more than 100 manufacturers, concentrates on the low and middle segments of the market. That focus on lower-cost products has made Chinese tires an easy target of anti-dumping investigations in recent years.

Ren said that ChemChina does not aim to flood the world with cheap Chinese-produced tires as a response to overcapacity in the domestic market. The company aims to move up the global value chain and in doing so, to become better able to compete in the domestic market, which is forecast to more than double in the next 10 years.

After the deal closes, ChemChina will seek to relist Pirelli in Italy as soon as possible, Ren said. The company has been trading on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, but it will be delisted as a result of the transaction.

ChemChina has already wrapped up several global M&A deals, including the acquisitions of French animal nutrition company Adisseo SAS, Australian plastics maker Qenos Pty Ltd and Israel-based agricultural company Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd, now known as Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd.

But the United States seems to have been a missing piece in ChemChina's global plan.

Ren explained that he has been denied a visa several times, which prevented ChemChina from developing business partnerships and expanding in the US.

But Ren said ChemChina will continue to explore investment opportunities in the US which holds huge potential for China's chemical industry.

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