The prize winners are chosen by an authoritative jury of the Italy-China Foundation, presided over by one of Italy's most famous elderly Managers, Cesare Romiti, and is attributed to companies, institutions and personalities, both Italian and Chinese, who have made the best of the opportunities offered by the economic and cultural relations between Italy and China.

The sixth edition of the China Awards has been organised by the Italy-China Foundation together with the popular business news paper, Milano Finanza,, in partnership with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in China and with the patronage of the Italo-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Italian Ministries of Economic Development, Foreign Affairs and the Environment as well as the cooperation of Bank Intesa Sanpaolo.

The Creatori di Valore prize is dedicated in particular to those Italian companies who have achieved the best performance with China working in particular areas and high export growth sectors. In this important prize ceremony, seven prize categories were assigned in the presence of H E the Ambassador of China to Italy and other honorary guests and in front of an audience of 250 entrepreneurs at a charity dinner at the renowned Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan on the evening of November 24th. The proceeds of the dinner go to the project LifeLine Express - a hospital-train that travels to the most remote regions of China to cure optical cataracts, a pathology that strikes more than 400.000 people each in China, including children .

As Mr Ettore Lonati, President of the Lonati Group, and Mr Tiberio Lonati, CEO of Santoni, were both in China for the Yiwu Exhibition, an important exhibition in the field of socks and hosiery machines as well as seamless knitting machines, the prize was accepted by their brother, Mr. Fausto Lonati, Chief Executive of the Group.

Santoni in China

Santoni Shanghai was founded in 2004 by the Lonati brothers who always saw China as an enormous   development opportunity rather than a threat.

"Up to then the various companies of the family Group had reached considerable levels of exports to the Land of the Dragon but the vigorous dynamism of the local customers and the unceasing Chinese growth led to the   feeling that in spite of their high commercial presence in that area, more should be done. And from this came the JINSHAN project (in the Shanghai area), with an industrial plan suitable to the Chinese culture," Santoni said in a statement today.

"This was not a project of delocalization but intended to strengthen the international organization of the Group with possible positive sequence to the Brescia home plant saturation as has happened in recent years. To occupy space on the markets, innovate and remain close to the customers, this was the only way to match the new Chinese competitors," the company said.

"A small group of Italian young men with good will and  ideas and so much determination, guided by a manager like Gianpietro Belotti  with an excellent backing by  trustworthy local collaborators ,all in the frame of a well planned  strategy and In less than 5 years  the Company  by 2010 reached  net annual revenues of over one billion RMB  and employs  over 25O persons."

"It has included in its network a solid chain of local suppliers and has also concluded with success two acquisitions of local competitive companies.   The whole activity was originally started in a rented plant. Now the Group has acquired over 150 acres (100,000 sq metres) of land where an industrial complex is in progress and which will contain besides the new plants of Santoni-Shanghai also about ten companies of consolidated suppliers. This is foreseen to be completed within 2012."  

Participation with local University Institutes and the recent qualification of Santoni as a High Tech Company have confirmed both the success of the investment, and the commitment of the group in the Textile Machine sector as well as strengthening its establishment on Chinese territory. 

Finally, in recognition of the good work achieved by the Lonati brothers, CEO Mr Tiberio Lonati has been named Honorary President of the Chinese Association of Textile Producers in the Seamless sector.