MILAN (Reuters) -Pirelli investor Camfin, the vehicle of Marco Tronchetti Provera, said on Tuesday it would propose Andrea Casaluci as the new CEO of the Italian tyremaker, promoting him from General Manager Operations.
Current Pirelli deputy-CEO Giorgio Bruno, who had been lined up to replace Tronchetti Provera for the top job, expressed the intention to leave Pirelli’s board and pursue his own business interests, Camfin said in a statement.
“As a consequence he is not available to be indicated as chief executive officer of Pirelli,” it said.
Camfin said it would also propose Tronchetti Provera, who has led Pirelli since 1992, for the role of executive vice chairman, as previously planned.
The change to the CEO nomination comes after the Italian government ruled last week that a proposed governance agreement between Pirelli’s largest investor Sinochem and Camfin must be amended to limit Chinese influence.
That meant that Camfin retained the power to designate the Pirelli CEO.
“After collaborating for many years on the guidance of the development of the Pirelli Group, I have decided to embark on my own entrepreneurial course, which will absorb my professional energies in future,” Bruno said in the statement.
Pirelli is set to renew its board at a shareholder meeting to be called on July 31.
Rome also said Sinochem should pick eight members of Pirelli’s 15-strong board, leaving four to Camfin.
Sinochem has a 37% stake in Pirelli, while Camfin owns 14.1%.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing Federico Maccioni and Keith Weir)
