Pirelli has handed Gerardo Braggiotti, the former head of Lazard in Italy, his first flotation mandate since he set up his own boutique last year. He will advise on the €400m ($478m) initial public offering of the company's tyre manufacturing arm.

Italian daily Finanziari Mercati reports that the float of Pirelli Tyre Holding could value the company at about €2.5bn.