Rome/Milan | Italy has stripped China’s Sinochem of its influence as the largest shareholder in Pirelli, removing its right to appoint the chief executive or set the tyre maker’s strategy in response to worries about interference by the Chinese state.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has invoked national security concerns about the potential for misuse of Pirelli’s chip technology, as well as Chinese Communist Party interference, to justify the new restrictions on Sinochem, which owns a 37 per cent stake in the business.

Financial Times