Ineos and Ratcliffe are now targeting Manchester United
The British petrochemical group, owner of a man with a unique career path, is pushing forward with its ambitious marketing strategy. After the football club of Nice, cycling, athletics or even sailing, Jim Ratcliffe takes on the legendary English club of Manchester, owned by the Glazer family.
British group INEOS chairman Jim Ratcliffe poses upon arrival for the 73rd Red Cross Gala at the Casino de Monte-Carlo on July 18, 2022.
Valery Hache/AFP
Controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest men, Ineos said on Tuesday it had contacted investment bank Raines, commissioned by Manchester United’s current owners, the American Glazer family.
“I can confirm that we have formally engaged in the process,” a spokesman for the group told AFP, confirming the information revealed by the BBC.
The Glazers, for their part, have not commented on Ineos’ entry into the race.
An exhibited supporter of the Red Devils, Ratcliffe, 70, whose fortune Forbes magazine estimates at 15.5 billion dollars, in 111th place in its 2022 ranking of the planet’s billionaires, had already expressed his interest in the Manchester United, even if they also tried to get their hands on Chelsea, finally sold last May to an American consortium for 4.25 billion pounds, a record.
But there is still a long way to go before a possible deal with the Glazers, who have controlled Manchester United since 2005 and are hoping for offers of around £5bn (€5.8bn), which would be a record amount.
Ratcliffe could notably face a competing offer from Saudi investors. Prince Abdelaziz ben Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi minister of sport, had hinted last November at a possible “interest” in the acquisition of Manchester United but also of Liverpool, which is also up for sale.
Cycling in the spotlight, football in the sights
Taking possession of the Red Devils, one of Europe’s big names, would be a new step taken by Ineos in the sport, where the 2019 takeover of the Sky cycling team made an impression. “Sky was the benchmark in terms of performance in a sport that particularly highlights the sponsor’s name”, later deciphered for AFP Vincent Chaudel, founder of the Sport Business Observatory.
The former team of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome had won six Tours de France between 2012 and 2018; Renamed Ineos, it won the 2019 edition of the Great Loop with Colombian Egan Bernal. Even if Ineos-Grenadiers are less present today at the forefront of a group dominated by Tadej Pogacar’s UAE and Jonas Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma, cycling continues to guarantee first-rate visibility to Ratcliffe’s group.
In football, obviously in the crosshairs of his marketing strategy due to the popularity of the No. 1 sport in the world, the British billionaire has not yet succeeded in such a spectacular coup. After Lausanne Sport club, bought in 2017, it was OGC Nice that fell into his hands in 2019. Neither of them, however, have the media coverage and track record of Manchester United.
“The most popular sport in the world is football, and it’s the sport we are closest to,” Ratcliffe said last October at a conference organized by the Financial Times. “So we should be there.”
Technology
Ineos also ventured into the world of athletics with the Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchpoge, meticulously and spectacularly organizing for him in October 2019 on the streets of Vienna, the Austrian capital, the first marathon run in less than two hours (1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds) – performance not approved by the International Athletics Federation due to the very specific competition conditions.
The brand also made itself visible at the highly prestigious America’s Cup, one of the oldest existing sporting competitions, with the Britannia monohull and appears on the single-seaters entered in Formula One by the Mercedes team, which Ineos also owns. Two sports where technology is essential.
Nothing, however, predestined Jim Ratcliffe to become a billionaire and to be knighted by the Queen, he who grew up in the council houses of the suburbs of Manchester.
The former Birmingham University chemistry student and London Business School MBA holder created Ineos, which he still owns today, at the age of 40, before growing it through acquisitions.
Discreet, Ratcliffe, who has settled in Monaco, a principality known for its unobtrusive tax system, and has never listed his group on the stock exchange, rarely speaks to the press. “We make billions. What’s wrong with investing a little in sports?” He explained before the marathon project he set up with Kipchoge.
AFP extension
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