In brief
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder of British petrochemicals conglomerate Ineos, will rebrand cycling giant Team Sky as Team Ineos following multi-million pound deal
- Environmentalists have accused the company of ‘greenwashing' to distract attention from its investments in fracking and plastic production
- The billionaire has recently acquired a public profile after a acquiring a £21bn personal fortune from his privately-owned business
When Team Ineos makes its debut as the world’s best-funded cycling team in the Tour de Yorkshire in May, the peloton will pass through sumptuous landscapes that range from the Georgian splendour of Howden to David Hockney’s beloved Wolds.
Less likely to be noted by Team Ineos’s highly-paid stars will be the moment when their wheels zip through PEDL332 – one of 30 “blocks” across Britain where chemicals and energy giant Ineos – owned by the nation’s richest man in the shape of Sir Jim Ratcliffe – holds a licence for the potential exploration of shale gas to be extracted by fracking.
While sending a shock wave through competitive cycling with its multi-million pound purchase of the hitherto all-conquering Team Sky, Ineos has complained bitterly about the seismic limits placed on fracking companies. Sir Jim recently described the rules as “absurd” and warned it was making attempts to establish a UK shale gas industry “unworkable”.
Environmental campaigners have been quick to call out Sir Jim’s decision to spend an undisclosed chunk of his £21.05bn personal fortune – earned from turning around unloved assets of the petro-chemicals sector – on a sport that prides itself on its eco-friendly credentials.
#passonplastic
When the 65-year-old industrialist, sometime Yorkshireman and keen endurance sportsman announced the deal earlier this month, he extolled the virtues of cycling, saying: “[It] continues to mushroom for the general public as it is seen to be good for fitness and health, together with easing congestion and pollution in city environments. Ineos is delighted to take on the responsibility of running such a professional team.”
“This sort of greenwashing activity now needs to be stopped and fossil fuel advertising in sport banned”
Craig Bennett, chief executive of Friends of the Earth
What is as yet unclear is whether Team Ineos will continue to carry the slogan “#PassOnPlastic” emblazoned on its Team Sky shirts for the 2018 Tour de France. The branding was a nod to a high-profile campaign to reduce the estimated 160m tonnes of single-use plastics produced globally each year (with Team Sky pledging to eliminate its share by 2020).
Were such a goal to be achieved, it would risk putting a dent in the fortunes of Sir Jim and his company.
Ineos, which last year made record profits of £5.3bn on sales of £46bn and has recently expanded into gas and oil, is one of Europe’s largest plastic producers and dominates production of ethylene, a key chemical building block for items from toothpaste caps to car components.
Environmental groups argue that the Team Sky deal, alongside a £110m investment in a venture with Olympian sailor Ben Ainslie to try to win the America’s Cup yacht race, amounts to so-called “greenwashing” – an attempt to deflect criticism of a company’s environmental record by backing high-profile eco-friendly causes.
Greenwashing activity
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Now Friends of the Earth has gone further by telling iweekend that it urgently wants to see a sports sponsorship and advertising ban on “fossil fuel” companies such as Ineos, arguing that the public health dangers posed by issues such as climate change and air pollution are of a similar magnitude to tobacco, which has been subject to an advertising ban since 2003.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of FoE, said: “Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are the pantomime villains of British business and climate change. From fracking to plastics to promoting reliance on gas and oil, they appear determined to keep us locked into a high-carbon economy.
“It is for this reason that their purchase of Team Sky is deeply depressing. It is a human-powered sport with fans who care passionately about the environment. Ineos does not fit into that agenda.
“This sort of greenwashing activity now needs to be stopped and fossil fuel advertising in sport banned because of the health risks posed by these industries. It is effectively no different to tobacco advertising.”
Putting noses out of joint
Neither Ineos nor its stoic founder, who celebrated his 60th birthday by running a 55-mile ultramarathon in South Africa and then riding a motorbike across the country with a broken foot, are strangers to controversy or an eye-catching headline.
From Brexit (Sir Jim is an ardent enthusiast, though he has expressed disappointment at progress thus far) to tax (Ineos transferred its headquarters from London to Switzerland for five years following a spat with the then Labour government over VAT payments), the company has repeatedly shown it is unafraid to take a robust stance. As one industry insider put it: “If noses are put out of joint, then the attitude at Ineos is likely to be ‘so be it’.”
The company, which has 20,000 employees in 24 countries, did not respond to requests to comment on FOE’s criticisms. But it has insisted that it is a good corporate citizen and called out what it says is “misinformation” about activities such as fracking – arguing for example that the fact that a million shale gas and oil wells have been sunk in America proves the technique’s safety.
Sir Jim has pledged to take measures to try to halt the tide of plastics flowing into the world’s oceans and the company says it will recycle 800,000 tonnes of PVC, the world’s third most widely used polymer, a year in Europe by 2020.
True grit
Indeed, after spending the best part of two decades quietly growing into what is by several measures Britain’s largest privately-owned company (Sir Jim holds 60 per cent and the remainder is split between his two co-founders – a triumvirate described by Ineos as “three unassuming northern grammar school boys”), Ineos increasingly believes it has a story to tell.
Not least is the “true grit” trajectory of Ratcliffe, who was born to relatively humble beginnings as the son of a joiner and an accounts worker in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, before the family moved to the Yorkshire town of Beverley, where Jim attended the grammar school.
“When he wants to do something, he does it wholeheartedly, whether it’s a megadeal for gas tankers or walking to the North Pole.”
After a career in industry with companies from Esso to Courtaulds, he moved into venture capital before striking out on his own with his trademark wolfish grin and eye for acquiring the neglected petrochemical assets of companies such as BP.
Whereas many plutocrats prefer to keep the scale of their wealth vague, it is a mark of Sir Jim’s newly unapologetic stance about his success that he last year granted the authors of the Sunday Times Rich List access to Ineos’s accounts and an inventory of his assets after complaining that the scale of his wealth had been grossly underestimated.
As a result his estimated fortune rose by £15.3bn and his ranking on the list rose from 18th to top of the list on the basis of the value of Ineos and baubles ranging from a mansion near Beaulieu in Hampshire and two superyachts, the largest of which – Hampshire II – features a zipwire allowing guests to travel from the crows nest into the sea.
Doing it wholeheartedly
Those who know the industrialist, say his recent emergence into the limelight is explained by the same maverick side to his personality which persuaded him to put some £600m into Projeckt Grenadier – his venture to build a utilitarian 4×4 vehicle to succeed the now-defunct Land Rover Defender. The enterprise is named after the pub in London’s Mayfair where the 4×4 was first discussed over a lunchtime pint.
One industry source, who has known Sir Jim for much of the last two decades, said: “What you have remember about Jim is that he’s actually quite a passionate guy. The greenwashing thing is a bit unfair. His commitment to sport and fitness is genuine – he wants to get kids in schools running.
“When he wants to do something, he does it wholeheartedly, whether it’s a megadeal for gas tankers or walking to the North Pole. At the same time, he hasn’t got where he is without knowing how to cut a deal and dig in against opposition. His head tells him to make money but I’d say he’s now letting his heart spend a bit of it.”
It is perhaps with this in mind that Sir Jim, a Manchester United fan, is widely held to have recently tabled a £2bn bid to wrest Chelsea FC from the grip of fellow magnate Roman Abramovich. The offer, which might have been said to fit the Ratcliffe template of seeking to acquire an asset no longer cherished as much as it once was by its present owner, appears to have been firmly rejected.
‘Deeply pro-British’
Nonetheless, Britain’s richest man is not losing his penchant for causing friction.
Ineos was this week accused of “dodging environmental safeguards” after it emerged it wrote to the Government late last year seeking to defer compliance with EU directives on waste limits at its Seal Sands chemicals plant in Middlesbrough. The company warned that unless deferral was possible it might be forced to close the site at a cost of up to 2,000 local jobs.
Sir Jim has himself come in for sharp criticism after it emerged that he is moving to Monaco and in so doing is likely to avoid, perfectly legally, anywhere between £400m and £4bn in tax that would have been due to the Treasury.
All of which, say the Ineos founder’s critics, sits uncomfortably with his previous declaration that he is “deeply pro-British”.
It is jibe over which the industrialist may lose little sleep.
Among other deeds to mark the 20th anniversary this year of the founding of Ineos, Sir Jim has commissioned a heraldry expert to draw up a coat of arms for the company. Its Latin motto of “Veni, Emi, Vici” translates as: “I came, I bought, I conquered.”
Sir Jim’s own ‘uncompromising off-roader’
Like many men of a certain age, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has a soft spot for the cars of his youth – in his case the original utilitarian 4×4 in the shape of the Land Rover Defender.
Unlike many people, the industrialist also has the wherewithal to fund his desire for a spiritual successor to the boxy and beloved Defender after Jaguar Land Rover ceased production of the original in 2016 (albeit with a promised replacement due later this year).
The industrialist, who has previously described himself as “deeply pro-British”, has said he is prepared to spend as much as £600m on the vehicle, named Projekt Grenadier after the pub close his company’s headquarters in London’s Mayfair where it was originally conceived over a lunchtime pint.
The desire for what Sir Jim has called an “uncompromising off-roader” is said to have led to a retro-design with a stripped back interior, including plug holes allowing it to be hosed out. In the words of the project’s commercial director, it will “not be a Chelsea tractor”.
The “Britishness” of the vehicle remains a subject for debate. It was announced earlier this month that the “Grenadier” will be powered by BMW engines after the design work for the 4×4 was completed by another German company.
Ineos has said it is still deciding where the 25,000 vehicles a year it expects to produce will be made.
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