The Chinese industrialist poised to take control of Italian tyremaker Pirelli has attacked the US, saying he is missing out on investment opportunities in the country because his visa applications are routinely rejected.

Ren Jianxin, the chairman of state-owned ChemChina dubbed China’s “merger king”, has previously orchestrated half-a-dozen acquisitions in countries including France, Norway, Israel and Australia, but has yet to do a big deal in the US in part because of his inability to reliably obtain visas.

“I was scheduled to attend a series of important business meetings in the US in January, February and March, but without a valid US visa I could not make them,” he said. “Inevitably this has left a bad impression on our potential [US] business partners who may think I am not serious about opportunities there.”