Paolo Rocca (born 1952) is an Argentine-Italian businessman, CEO of the Techint Group, which holds Tenaris, Ternium and other companies that operate in the engineering, construction and energy sectors. He is also chairman and CEO of Tenaris, and chairman of Ternium.
The majority of Rocca’s wealth is derived from Techint, an Italo-Argentine industrial conglomerate founded by his grandfather, Agostino Rocca, in 1945. Rocca controls Techint with his brother Gianfelice and aunt Anna. The family-owned business controls two publicly traded steel units, Tenaris and Ternium, as well as closely held oil producer Tecpetrol, industrial-machinery maker Tenova, contractor Techint Engineering & Construction and hospital operator Humanitas.
The family controls Techint through Luxembourg-based holding company San Faustin. According to a June 2021 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, 64% of San Faustin’s voting shares and 41% of its total capital are controlled by RP STAK, a foundation incorporated in the Netherlands. Though the filings say no individual or group controls RP STAK, a person with knowledge of the foundation told Bloomberg News in July 2012 that it’s controlled by the Roccas. No charitable purposes are mentioned in RP STAK’s articles of association.
Paolo Rocca is the chairman of RP STAK’s voting committee and credited with the fortune. The other members of the committee are his brother, cousins Roberto and Enrico Bonatti (sons of his aunt Anna), nephew Lodovico and two non-relatives. The same people sit on the board of San Faustin. Until his death in 2003, Roberto Rocca — Paolo’s father and son of founder Agostino — was listed as controller of RP STAK’s British Virgin Islands-based predecessor, Rocca & Partners SA.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Stefania Argento, a spokeswoman for Tenaris, declined to comment on Rocca’s net worth.
Biography
Early life
Born in Milan in 1895, grandfather Agostino Rocca fought in the Italian army in World War I. After working in steel and engineering firms, he joined Mussolini’s government in the wake of the Great Depression to help oversee the reconstruction of Italy’s industry. His role shoring up companies and rejiggering them as defense contractors during the 1930s earned him the title of “inventor of Italy’s steel industry,” according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. He broke with Mussolini before the end of World War II.
He founded Techint in Milan in 1945 to bid for engineering contracts around the world. Joined by his brother Enrico and a few minority partners, Agostino’s focus soon turned to Latin America where he built pipelines and steel factories in Argentina and Mexico. Upon his death in 1978, he passed the reins to his son, Roberto, who earned a doctorate in metallurgical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Roberto continued Techint’s expansion into infrastructure, industrial-machinery and oil throughout Latin America and northern Africa over the decades that followed.
Roberto died in 2003, leaving control of the business to his two sons, Paolo and Gianfelice, as well as Enrico and Roberto Bonatti, the sons of his twin sister Anna. His oldest son, Agostino, died in an airplane accident in 2001. Paolo took charge of the family’s steel operations in Buenos Aires, while Gianfelice turned his attentions to developing a hospital business in Milan. Roberto Bonatti now leads their Argentine oil producer, Tecpetrol. Enrico is president of Techint Construction & Engineering, still based in the city where the empire was born.
Career
After having served as assistant to the executive director of the World Bank, in 1985 Paolo Rocca began his career at Techint Group as assistant to the chairman of the board of directors. In 1990 he assumed as executive vice-president of Siderca.
Techint
Since 2002, he is the CEO of Tenaris and Techint. In addition, he is chairman of the board of directors of Tamsa and of the board of directors of Ternium, and director of the Techint Financial Corporation. Rocca led Techint in a series of acquisitions in Latin America and the world, which led to the development of operations in more than 20 countries.
Notebook scandal
In November 2018, Rocca was indicted by the Argentine judge overseeing an investigation into the so-called notebook scandal as part of a graft case.[ The charges resulted from testimony that a company executive had paid bribes to speed up the compensation to Rocca’s group that resulted from the nationalization of SIDOR by the Venezuelan government.
In April 2019, the Argentine court of appeals dropped all the charges against Rocca pending further investigation.
Boards and awards
Paolo Rocca is a member of the executive committee of the World Steel Association and was the chairman of this association during the 2009–2010 period.[9] He was a member of the International Advisory Committee of New York Stock Exchange, and of the advisory board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) private sector. In 2004 within the “Argentina-México: Visión y Perspectivas” forum, he was awarded with the Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca. In 2008 he was recognized by Fundación Konex with the “2008 Platinum Konex Prize: Industry businessmen”; and in 2011 he was chosen “Steelmaker of the Year” by the Association of Iron and Steel Technology (AIST). In 2013 the Columbia Business School honored Paolo Rocca with the “Deming Cup” in recognition to the impact of his leadership on Tenaris’s competitiveness.
Milestones
- 1922 Agostino Rocca’s twin children, Roberto and Anna, are born.
- 1945 Roberto’s son Agostino is born; Techint is founded in Milan.
- 1949 Techint completes construction of a gas pipeline in Argentina.
- 1950 Roberto earns doctorate from MIT.
- 1952 Paolo Rocca, the last of Roberto’s three sons, is born.
- 1954 Family builds two seamless tube plants, in Argentina and Mexico.
- 1978 Patriarch Agostino Rocca dies, passing reins to Roberto.
- 2003 Roberto Rocca dies; Paolo assumes the helm of Techint.
- 2006 Ternium, which combines Techint’s steelmaking units, holds IPO.
- 2011 Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas bought by Ternium for $2.5 billion.
