Rosneft execs get Pirelli board seats

(Tire Business report)

Milan, Italy – Six executives with or associated with Russia’s Rosneft Oil Co. have been appointed to the board of directors of Pirelli.

Rosneft and a series of allied companies acquired in March what amounts to a 13-percent stake in Pirelli.

The tire maker and Rosneft are involved in a series of cooperation deals, including raw materials supply and the installation of retail stores in Russia.

The new board members are:

Igor Sechin, president of Rosneft and chairman of Rosneft’s management board; Didier Casimiro, vice president for commerce and logistics at Rosneft; Andrey Kostin, president and chairman of the management board and a member of the supervisory council of VTB Bank; Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore Xstrata PLC; Petr Lazarev, financial director at Rosneft; and Igor Soglaev, president, CJCS Novokuibyshevskaya Petrolchemical Co.

These individuals replace board members Claudio Sposito, chairman and CEO of Clessidra SGR SpA; Riccardo Bruno, a director of Clessidra; Piero Alonzo, technical adviser of the Tribunal di Roma; Emiliano Nitti, general counsel, Clessidra; Luciano Gobbi, Pirelli’s chief financial officer; and Enrico Parazzini, CEO of Camfin SpA, who tendered their resignations.

Pirelli did not elaborate on the reasons for the changes.