Jim Ratcliffe is the chemical industry’s answer to acquisitive steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, a man who has taken it on himself to create a manufacturing empire by buying up the leftovers of those before him. From his base in the New Forest, the low-key Ratcliffe runs Ineos Group, which has become Britain’s second-largest chemicals company and the world’s largest producer of a range of industrial chemicals, including chlorine, perchloroehtylene, methylene chloride and hydrochloric acid. The world suddenly took notice of what Ratcliffe and his team of highly experienced chemical industry executives were up to when Ineos bought BP’s Innovene chemical division for £5bn in October 2004. Ratcliffe had no difficulty persuading the City’s finest – including Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley – to underwrite the cash offer.

A quiet family man, Ratcliffe now heads a group employing 15,500 people in 14 countries, with sales of £18bn and profits running close to £1bn. Snagging Innovene was a stunning coup for Ratcliffe, beating as he did the entire private-equity industry to clinch the deal. But he knows that business well, having worked as a director of Advent International (Boston) from 1987 to 1992. Before that, he spent 15 years in accounting, marketing, and business management at Esso Petroleum and Courtaulds.

In 1992, he left Advent and, together with Dr John Hollowood, led the management buyout of BP’s speciality chemicals division, which became Inspec. This floated on the stock market in 1994, and four years later was taken over in a £611m deal by Laporte. Ratcliffe had left by then, but his remaining shares and options were worth £28m at the time. Armed with this windfall, in 1998 he led the £90.5m acquisition of Ineos Group from Inspec. A series of bold takeovers followed, including chunks of chemical giants ICI, Dow and Degussa. Ineos has purchased most of its assets in auctions, where the main competition often comes from private-equity companies– which Ratcliffe believes has helped his cause. ‘We’ve found greater receptiveness from sellers because we’re not a private-equity capital company,’ he says.
‘Chemical companies are more comfortable
dealing with us than with accountants
from the private-equity sector, who
are a different breed of people.’
Even before the recent transforming BP deal, Ineos made a healthy £149m profit on sales of £2.3bn. Ratcliffe has a
67% stake.

INEOS FACT FILE

Ineos was formed in 1998

The company is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products

Jim Ratcliffe transformed the Ineos Group through a deal to buy BP’s Innoven chemical business for £5bn in 2004.

The business is now the world’s third largest chemicals company with annual sales of $45bn

Today, Ineos employs 17,000 people in 17 countries.

On the Ineos website, the company’s stated objective is to “continue growing our profitability and cash flows”