Pirelli Real Estate is being rebranded to Prelios as it prepares to be spun off.
The Milan-based firm, which is being teed up by Pirelli’s management as a takeover target, said on Friday the new name would be put before shareholders for approval. Pirelli once had ambitions to raise an opportunity fund, however those were shelved in the wake of the credit crisis.
Pirelli also said finance managing director Claudio De Conto, who joined Pirelli in 1988, had resigned and would be replaced by Enrico Parazzini, who served as chief executive officer for one year in 2009 before current CEO Giorgio Bruno took over.
The Prelios name is taken from the combination of the pre in premium, and helios, a Greek term referring to the sun.
Earlier this month, Pirelli’s board approved a plan to split the real estate business from the main tyre manufacturing arm of Pirelli, which accounts for most of the group’s profits. The restructuring of the firm is designed to make Pirelli Real Estate more “appealing” to possible takeover bids, the company said at the time.
The company invests in property directly and manages a number of closed-ended funds under its Pirelli Real Estate brand, but has suffered in the downturn. In order to turn it around, Pirelli Real Estate made around €68 million of structural savings last year and improved debt ratios.
Pirelli Real Estate’s chief investment officer Olivier de Poulpiquet left the company earlier this year to become head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing.
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