BILLIONAIRES: ENGLISH EDITION

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Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe

Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe (born 18 October 1952) is a British billionaire chemical engineer turned financier and industrialist. Ratcliffe is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Ineos chemicals group, which he founded in 1998 and of which he still owns two-thirds, and which has been estimated to have a turnover of $80 billion. He does not have a high public profile, and has been described by The Sunday Times as "publicity shy". On 13 May 2018 he was named as the richest person in the UK, with a net worth of £21.05 billion

Career

His first job was with oil giant Esso, but he decided to broaden his skills into finance by studying management accounting and taking an MSc in Finance at London Business School in 1978. In 1989, he joined US private equity group Advent International.

Ineos

Ratcliffe was a co-founder of INSPEC, which leased the former BP Chemicals site in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1998 Ratcliffe formed Ineos in Hampshire to buy-out INSPEC and the freehold of the Antwerp site.

From this small base, using high-yield debt to finance deals, Ratcliffe started buying unwanted operations from groups such as ICI and BP, selecting targets based on their potential to double their earnings over a five-year period. In 2006 Ineos bought BP's refining and petrochemical arm Innovene, giving Ineos refineries and plants in Scotland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Canada.

In April 2010, Ratcliffe moved Ineos's head office from Hampshire to Rolle, Switzerland, decreasing the amount of tax the company paid by £100m a year.

In 2015, Ratcliffe opened the UK headquarters of the chemicals and energy group in Knightsbridge, London, along with gas and oil trading, and other functions, saying he was "very cheerful about coming back to the UK”. He was pleased with UK policy, London as a business base, and untroubled by the prospect of Brexit. Full year 2015 EBITDA was €577 million compared to €253 million for 2014.

In the Sunday Times Rich List 2018 he was named as the richest man in the UK, with a net worth of £21.05 billion.

In February 2019 it was announced that Ineos will be making £1bn worth of investments in the UK oil and chemical industries, which will include an overhaul of the Forties pipeline system that is responsible for transporting a significant percentage of the UK's North Sea oil and gas.

On 1 May 2019, Ratcliffe criticised the current government rules which say fracking in Britain must be suspended every time a 0.5 magnitude tremor is detected, which has led to a de facto ban on fracking. He said: "I think the government has been pathetic on the subject".

Sports ownership and sponsorship

In 2018, Ratcliffe partnered with Ben Ainslie to form Ineos Team UK to compete for the 36th America's Cup in 2021. Ratcliffe is reportedly investing over £110 million in the project.

• On 19 March 2019, Ratcliffe purchased the Team Sky cycling franchise, subsequently rebranded Team Ineos. Their first competitive race under the new Ineos sponsorship, was the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire. They subsequently won the 2019 Tour de France with the Colombian rider Egan Bernal.
• On 13 November 2017, Ratcliffe became the owner of FC Lausanne-Sport, a Swiss Super League football club.
• On 22 August 2019, the French competition authority permitted the €100 million takeover of Ligue 1 club OGC Nice from Chinese-American entrepreneur Chien Lee by Ineos.
• Ratcliffe supported the October 2019 Ineos 1:59 Challenge, a successful effort by Eliud Kipchoge to run 26.2 miles under 2 hours.

In February 2020, Ineos became principal partners of Mercedes AMG F1, signing a five-year agreement with the team. In the same month, Ratcliffe rejected claims that he would buy a Premier League club, having previously been linked to Chelsea.

Environmental pollution

In March 2019 INEOS said it would close its Middlesbrough manufacturing plant unless it is allowed to ‘defer compliance’ with EU rules designed to prevent air and water pollution. An analysis of data from the Environment Agency (EA) also reveals the plant clocked up 176 permit violations between 2014 and 2017. An EA spokesperson said: “air emissions are well over legal limits and this poses a risk to the environment”. INEOS director Tom Crotty said the firm “cannot justify” the investment required to comply with EU air and water pollution rules due to come into force in the coming years.

INEOS has had small projects in BioEthanol production using Clostridium to attempt that route of sustainability, although it has had problems with the Syngas having too high levels of HCN (hydrogen cyanide) for the bacteria to properly operate. 

Awards

In May 2009, Ratcliffe was granted an honorary fellowship by the Institution of Chemical Engineers citing “his sustained leadership in building the Ineos Group.” In 2013 he received the Petrochemical Heritage Award. Ratcliffe was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to business and to investment.