Earlier this week, Brembo announced that it had purchased a 2.43% stake in Pirelli as part of a “non-speculative, long-term approach,” and that it had acted “autonomously”.
Yet, the surprise purchase did give way to speculation that the two companies might look to combine forces in the future since they both operate in premium markets within their fields. Such a move could also help them face upcoming electric mobility challenges.
However, Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera denied such an idea, stating that “there are no plans for a merger with Brembo. They made an investment, we are happy they did so.”
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Tronchetti Provera added that while he wasn’t previously informed of what Brembo was planning, he did not see their move as hostile, reports Autonews Europe.
“I knew about the Brembo move when it was done. I don’t see it as hostile,” he added. “They have trust in us.”
Some analysts do however see the logic between a Brembo-Pirelli merger, with Intesa Sanpaolo’s Monica Bosio saying: “On the back of the strong contraction of their respective market capitalizations and considering the premium positioning of the two companies, we think a potential merger between Pirelli and Brembo would make sense overall even if the combination would generate synergies only on the cost base side.”
Brembo declined to offer further details yesterday about why it had purchased a stake in Pirelli. Still, the Italian brakemaker’s executive deputy chairman, Matteo Tiraboschi, did say last year that his company would be looking for an acquisition target of “significant size”, and this might have been it.
