Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s joust with China over one of Italy’s corporate crown jewels has produced a clear winner: Pirelli Chief Executive Officer Marco Tronchetti Provera, a titan of the country’s business establishment.

Tronchetti’s designated successor, Giorgio Bruno, is leaving the tiremaker after the government moved to limit the influence of its biggest shareholder, China’s Sinochem International, which had backed Bruno.

The surprise move Tuesday clears the way for Tronchetti, who married into the family of the founder decades ago, to consolidate his hold. It culminates the prime minister’s first big push to safeguard the “Italianness” of the country’s most storied firms, a campaign pledge that she followed through on last week with measures to limit Sinochem’s influence.