MILAN, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Contacts have been made with Italian and foreign investors interested in taking a stake in tyre maker Pirelli's main shareholder, Camfin , though nothing concrete is on the table, a holding company of the Pirelli chairman said on Monday.
"There have been preliminary contacts with some Italian and foreign subjects, including Investindustrial, who have recently shown an interest over possible partnerships, including buying equity (in Camfin)," Marco Tronchetti Provera & C Sapa, the holding company, said in a statement.
Pirelli Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera controls the tyre maker through a complex web of holding companies including GPI, a privately held company that is the largest shareholder of Camfin.
GPI is in turn controlled by the Sapa holding.
"There are no operations under way in this regard or even being drawn up," Sapa said.
Tronchetti Provera has been locked in a dispute with GPI's second-largest investor, the Malacalza family.
The Pirelli head and the Malacalazas, who bought stakes in GPI and Camfin in 2009, have recently clashed over a series of issues, including plans to issue a convertible bond approved by Camfin Aug. 29.
Press reports over the weekend said that Italian private equity firm Investindustrial, controlled by Andrea Bonomi, had had contacts with the Pirelli No. 1 about possibly entering Camfin capital.
Camfin also controls struggling real estate management company Prelios .
(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Leslie Adler)
((stephen.jewkes@thomsonreuters.com)(+39.0266129695)(Reuters
Messaging: stephen.jewkes.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: CAMFIN PIRELLI/