, Columnists
China Inc. Gets Private Equity Religion
ChemChina's Pirelli plan marks a new phase for acquisitive state-owned companies.
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There's something unusual in the planned 9 billion euro ($10.8 billion) initial public offering of Formula One tiremaker Pirelli & C. SpA.
It's not the valuation, which would be in line with Nokian Renkaat Oyj, a Finnish peer, people familiar with the matter told Tommaso Ebhardt, Ruth David and Daniele Lepido of Bloomberg News. Nor is it the two years that Pirelli spent in private hands, or even the restructuring it underwent during that period to hive off its less-profitable industrial-tires business. Those are the sorts of things you'd expect to see in any private equity exit strategy.