Company Overview

IP – italiana petroli is one of Italy's leading operators in mobility and fuels, active for over 90 years in the refining, logistics, and distribution of petroleum products. Historically controlled by the Brachetti Peretti family through API Holding, the Group operates two refineries, in Falconara Marittima and Trecate, with a total production capacity of approximately 10 million tons per year. With over 4,500 service stations under the IP and IPlanet brands spread across the country, it represents one of the most extensive fuel distribution networks in Italy, also serving the country's main ports and airports. In 2025, the Group initiated a major corporate transition with theacquisition of 99.82% of its shares by SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic), a transaction completed during 2026. The change in ownership is part of a strategy focused on management continuity and investment in Italy, with the confirmation of the brand, local management, and employment levels.

The Challenge

In 2025, IP – Gruppo API began a historic transition: theacquisition by SOCAR, which marked the end of over 90 years of ownership by the Brachetti Peretti family. In a climate of significant uncertainty, the company's management team, spread across multiple offices and facilities throughout Italy, faced a dual challenge: maintaining a sense of teamwork despite the geographical distance, and navigating with confidence a change of ownership that is still to be defined.

The Solution

To address this need, IP chose to work with Wibo on a program specifically designed for an executive audience, with a tone and format consistent with the participants' experience: not a theoretical or overly operational course, but a space for peer-to-peer discussion, enriched by insights from high-level speakers. In this excerpt, Vittoria Valenti explains how the program was built in practice.

The Impact

The value of the program was not measured only by the feedback from the managers involved, but also by the engagement of the new ownership, who chose to participate personally in the final events. This is a clear sign of the project's cross-functional impact, capable of resonating with different stakeholders during a time of significant organizational change.

Conclusion

The interview with Vittoria Valenti, Head of Learning & Development at IP - Gruppo API, tells the story of a program born during a delicate time for IP – Gruppo API: the acquisition by SOCAR, with all the uncertainty that a change of ownership of this magnitude brings. Starting from this challenge—a management team spread across the country and in search of a new sense of unity—Wibo worked with the company to build a tailor-made program for an executive audience, capable of fostering authentic peer-to-peer discussion.

To wrap up the interview, Vittoria Valenti chooses words that perfectly capture the spirit of this collaboration: she describes the work done with Wibo as a way to gently guide us through a time of significant change, a solid foundation the company could rely on during a delicate phase of its history.

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