The client
Who IP Gruppo API is, the Italian fuel company with more than 4,500 service stations that changed owner in 2025
IP Gruppo API is one of Italy’s main mobility and fuel companies, active for more than 90 years in refining, logistics and the distribution of oil products. The group was historically controlled by the Brachetti Peretti family through API Holding, and it runs two refineries, at Falconara Marittima and Trecate, with a combined capacity of around 10 million tonnes a year.
IP Gruppo API has more than 4,500 IP and IPlanet service stations across Italy, one of the country’s largest fuel distribution networks, which also serves the main ports and airports. In 2025 SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) acquired 99.82% of the shares, and the deal was completed during 2026, with the brand, the local management and employment levels confirmed. Vittoria Valenti, Head of Learning & Development at IP Gruppo API, spoke about the programme with Wibo.
The challenge
Why IP Gruppo API looked for a change management programme for its managers during the SOCAR acquisition
The managers of IP Gruppo API had to work through a change of ownership that was still largely undefined. In 2025 SOCAR started the acquisition that ended more than 90 years of ownership by the Brachetti Peretti family.
The managers of IP Gruppo API are spread across several sites and plants in Italy. In a climate of strong uncertainty they faced two difficulties at once: keeping a sense of team despite the geographical distance, and getting through the change with confidence.
The programme
How Wibo built a peer-learning programme with high-level speakers for the managers of IP Gruppo API
IP Gruppo API chose to work with Wibo on a tailored programme designed for an executive audience. Wibo gave the programme a language and a format in line with the participants’ experience, with a space for peer exchange enriched by talks from high-level speakers. The programme left out both the theoretical course and the overly operational approach.
Vittoria Valenti, Head of Learning & Development at IP Gruppo API, explains in the interview how Wibo and IP Gruppo API built the programme in practice.
The impact
What changed at IP Gruppo API after the Wibo programme, with new owner SOCAR attending the final events
The new owner of IP Gruppo API, SOCAR, chose to attend the final events of the programme with Wibo in person. This was read as a sign of the project’s impact on different audiences at a time of major organisational change.
Vittoria Valenti, Head of Learning & Development at IP Gruppo API, describes the work with Wibo as a way to guide a moment of strong change with kindness, and as a solid base the company could rely on at a delicate point in its history.
