Ineos

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Ineos

Type	Private
Founded	1997
Headquarters	Lyndhurst, Hampshire, UK
Key people	Jim Ratcliffe, CEO & Chairman
Products	Petrochemicals
Revenue	US$36 billion
Website	http://www.ineos.com

Ineos is a privately owned UK chemicals company, and by revenue the third largest in the world (after BASF and Dow Chemical). Its headquarters are located in the small village of Lyndhurst in Hampshire, England. Chairman, CEO and main shareholder Jim Ratcliffe was tenth on the Sunday Times Rich List 2007, with an estimated wealth of £3.3 billion. Note: Sunday Times Rich List 2008 revalued Jim Ratcliffe to £2.3 billion

Ineos was formed in 1997 to effect a management buyout of the former BP petrochemicals assets in Antwerp, Belgium. Since then, it has expanded by purchasing several other businesses. Several of its divisions formerly belonged to BP, and others have been divested by large companies such as Amoco, BASF, ICI, Dow Chemical, Solvay and UCB, as they have looked to focus more closely on their main product lines. In October 2005 it agreed to purchase Innovene, BP’s olefins and derivatives and refining subsidiary, which had an estimated 2005 turnover of US$25 billion, for $9 billion. The deal, which was completed on 16 December 2005, roughly quadrupled Ineos's turnover, which was previously around $8 billion.

Ineos reportedly prefers to run operations with minimal on-site management, the concept that "work teams" are better suited for handling of the workflow day to day, without middle-management.^[1]

In 2007 Lanxess formed a joined venture with Ineos and created Ineos ABS, comprising Lanxess's activities in Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene production, located in Tarragona. Ineos paid €35 million in a first tranche.^[2]

[edit] Industrial relations

The company has been accused by some sources of buying assets then cutting costs through the introduction of new working practices, lower wages, and terminating pension schemes.^[3]

As of late April 2008 Ineos was at the centre of an industrial relations dispute with the Unite Union over pension policies affecting the workforce at its Grangemouth Refinery. The company had taken the decision to close the company's final salary pension scheme to new employees, which it is estimated would only have cost £16 million per year to continue, its human resources manager Ian Fyfe stating that the company could not afford it, despite the Grangemouth facility making up to £3 million per day in profit. It is also claimed by Unite that workers at Grangemouth are paid £6,000 less than workers at other similar facilities.^[3] Ineos has been accused by Unite of "economic terrorism".^[4]