Jim Ratcliffe
| Jim Ratcliffe | |
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Jim Ratcliffe (2013)
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| Born | James Arthur Ratcliffe 18 October 1952 Manchester, England |
| Residence | Rolle, Switzerland |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Beverley Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham and London Business School |
| Occupation | Chairman and CEO, Ineos |
| Net worth | £3.2 billion[1] |
| Children | Two sons (with first wife), one daughter (with second wife) |
James Arthur "Jim" Ratcliffe (born 18 October 1952) is a British chemical engineer turned financier and industrialist.[2] Ratcliffe is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Ineos chemicals group, which he founded in 1998 and still owns two-thirds of, and which has been estimated to have a turnover of $44bn. He does not have a high public profile, and has been described by the Sunday Times as "publicity shy".[3][4] According to the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List, he is one of the richest people in the UK.[5]
Early life and education
Born in Manchester, the son of a joiner father and an accounts office worker mother, Ratcliffe lived there in a council house in Failsworth until the age of ten. His father eventually ran a factory making laboratory furniture.[6] Aged ten, he moved with his family to Yorkshire, and Ratcliffe attended Beverley Grammar School and lived in Hull up to the age of 18.[6]
Ratcliffe graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in chemical engineering in 1974.[6]
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 MBA at London Business School. He subsequently, in 1989, joined US private equity group Advent International.[7]
Ineos
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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 5-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.[3][4]
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.[8]
In 2015, Ratcliffe opened the UK headquarters of the chemicals and energy group in 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 the UK leaving the EU. "For the time being" it remains an Anglo-Swiss company.[9]
In May 2009, Ratcliffe was granted an Honorary Fellowship by the Institution of Chemical Engineers citing “his sustained leadership in building the Ineos Group.”[10]
Personal life
Ratcliffe has two sons with his first wife, and one daughter with his second wife.[6] He lives in Switzerland, close to Rolle where Ineos Group is headquartered.[6] He retains UK citizenship.
Ratcliffe enjoys skiing and sailing,[11] and is also reported to have completed the 2007 London Marathon.[12]
Ratcliffe has owned two super yachts, Hampshire and Hampshire II. His first yacht was built as Barbara Jean by Feadship. In 2012 he took delivery of the 78 metres (256 ft) Feadship Hampshire II, built by Royal van Lent, which he still owns.[13]
He enjoys physical adventure, and has made expeditions to the North and South Poles as well as a three-month-long motorbike trek in South Africa, and has founded a charity "Go Run for Fun", encouraging thousands of children aged between 5 and 10 years, to get active by creating celebrity-driven events.[9]
Notes
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ List of companies related to Jim Ratcliffe - http://www.flixens.com/director/james-arthur-ratcliffe
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Sunday Times Rich List 2010: Rising from the rubble, BBC News 25 April 2010
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Sunday Times - Tycoon Jim Ratcliffe flees UK - (April 2010)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ratcliffe, the alchemist", The Telegraph, 11 August 2007.
- ↑ The alchemist" University of Birmingham, Innes Lecture of Chemical Engineering 2007 Nov.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Business big shot: Jim Ratcliffe, 2008 biography from The Times
- Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos: Uncanny ability to spot undervalued assets, 2006 biography from The Financial Times'(pay-to-view)'
- Use dmy dates from November 2014
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- 1952 births
- Alumni of the London Business School
- Alumni of the University of Birmingham
- Living people
- British billionaires
- People from Failsworth
- English billionaires
- English chief executives
- People educated at Beverley Grammar School
