Ineos

First acquisitions

In 1995, Inspec bought BP's ethylene oxide and glycol businesses for £78 million, to become Inspec Ethylene Oxide Specialities.[8]

In 1998, Ratcliffe, then a director of Inspec, established Ineos for the purpose of purchasing Inspec's ethylene oxide facility in Antwerp, Belgium.[9][10] The £84 million purchase was funded by three entities: the Scottish investment house Murray Johnstone (£10 million), Ineos management (£1.5 million), and the investment bank BT Alex Brown (£72.5 million, raised through high-yield, non-investment grade bonds).[8][9][11][12]

The company grew quickly through the acquisition of commodity chemical businesses from corporate giants such as BP, ICI and BASF.

Many subsidiaries acquired

There have been three distinct phases of Ineos's growth.[13] The first phase spanned over ten years, with Ineos acquiring 22 companies between 1998 and 2008. The two most notable of these were Innovene, the olefins and derivatives and refining subsidiary of BP, in October 2005 for $9 billion,[14] and ICI's commodity chemicals business in 2001.

The second phase between 2008 and 2010 saw a period of consolidation as the company tackled the impact of the global recession. As production of consumer goods, cars, and construction fell during this period, the company saw sales and earnings fall. During this period a major competitor LyondellBasell filed for bankruptcy.[15] Some predicted a similar fate for Ineos but the company emerged from this period intact.

The third phase commenced in 2011. In this phase the company has continued to grow through a series of strategic joint ventures.

In June 2011, the largest of these, Petroineos, was completed. It is a 50:50 joint venture between Ineos and PetroChina. It combines Ineos's refining interests at Grangemouth, Scotland, and at Lavéra near Martigues, France (about 30 miles west of Marseille), with PetroChina's access to upstream raw materials.[16]

In June 2011, Ineos and BASF combined their styrene businesses to form another 50:50 partnership, Styrolution.[17]

Ineos's growth has continued through this period, expanding production in the US and China. Most recently Ineos announced a joint venture with Solvay bringing together their European polyvinyl chloride businesses.[18]

In October 2005 Ineos 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.[14] The deal, which was completed on 14 December 2005, roughly quadrupled Ineos's turnover, which was previously around $8 billion.

In 2007 Ineos formed a joint venture with Lanxess and created Ineos ABS, comprising Lanxess's activities in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene production, located in Tarragona. Ineos paid €35 million in a first tranche.[19] In March 2010 Ineos Healthcare terminated its drug development programme for commercial reasons.

Establishment of a biorefinery

Ineos Bio broke ground on the Vero Beach demonstration plant in February 2011. The facility used a gasification fermentation process to convert cellulosic waste materials, such as yard and vegetative waste, into ethanol. In addition to having the capacity to produce 8 million gallons of ethanol, the plant could also produce up to 6 MW of electricity. Texas-based Frankens Energy purchased the former Ineos Bio Indian River Biorefinery in Vero Beach, Florida in 2018.[20]

Plant closure threat over union demands

On 23 October 2013, Ineos announced the intent to close down its petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, Scotland,[21] following Unite's1 rejection of a "survival plan" requiring employees to accept worse employment terms, particularly on pensions. Unite commenced industrial action, but, by 25 October 2013, following the threat of closure, the union capitulated and agreed to all Ineos' demands. The plant was agreed to stay open and strike-free for three years.[22]

In September 2016, the company completed a new headquarters building at Grangemouth as part of a "site rejuvenation plan".[23]

Purchase of Forties pipeline system

In April 2017, Ineos reached an agreement to buy the Forties pipeline system in the North Sea from BP for $250 million. The sale included termini at Dalmeny and Kinneil, a site in Aberdeen, and the Forties Unity Platform.[24] Towards the start of 2019, in the wake of British MPs rejecting Theresa May's Brexit Deal, the company chose to fund a €3bn investment (£2.6bn) in petrochemical production in Antwerp, Belgium.[25]

COVID-19 pandemic

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitiser was in short supply due to high demand. Ineos set up new plants to produce it using key ingredients the company had used to manufacture polymers, and provided it free to hospitals. Ineos has the capacity to produce a million bottles of hand sanitiser a month.[26][27][28]

In June 2020, Ineos signed a letter of intent to acquire the petrochemicals unit of BP for $5 billion. The business is focused on aromatics and acetyls. It has interests in 14 plants in Asia, Europe and the U.S., and produced 9.7 million metric tons in 2019. The deal was expected to close prior to the end of 2020.[29]

In September 2020, Ineos signed a 10-year deal to acquire offshore wind power from Engie’s Northern wind farm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[30]

In January 2021, it was announced that Ineos was to donate £100 million to Oxford University for a new research institute for tackling antibiotic resistance.[31][32][33]

More acquisitions

On 22 September 2023 Ineos Enterprises acquired the Norwegian business of Eramet Titanium & Iron for $245 million. The firm is an "ilmenite transformation plant capable of producing titanium dioxide slag and high-purity pig iron."[34]

On 9 December 2023 INEOS announced the acquisition of the LyondellBassells ethylene oxide business.[35]

Petroineos

Petroineos is a refining and trading joint venture between Ineos and PetroChina formed in 2011. It is Europe's leading independent crude oil refiner, with a turnover of $15 billion. It has two refineries, one in Lavéra (part of Martigues), France, and one in Grangemouth, Scotland.[42] The value of the Grangemouth chemicals plant, which Ineos had once valued at 400 million pounds was written down to nothing by them in October 2013 during conflict with the union. Later that month it was reported that PetroChina was unhappy with the return on the billion dollars cash they had paid for a 50% stake in the Grangemouth and Lavera refineries. According to a Hong Kong business analyst: "The European refineries are pretty much loss making. In future there won't be any similar investments".[43]

In May 2020 Petroineos sought a £500 million bailout from the UK government for its Grangemouth refinery, due to declining oil sales. But environmental groups wrote to the Scottish first minister and the UK's prime minister, urging them to reject the appeal. The request came a year after Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is said to be the UK's third-wealthiest person, relocated to Monaco, apparently for tax reasons.[44][45]

In November 2023, Petroineos revealed plans to begin the work necessary to convert its operations at Scotland's only oil refinery, Grangemouth, into a business that imports finished fuel products, by 2025. No formal decision on the date of the transition to refinery to import terminal has been taken by the company, but it is reported that the announcement was attributed to the challenges faced due to global market pressures and the shift in demand for the types of fuels produced at Grangemouth.[46]

Other ventures

As of 2014, PQ Corporation is a joint venture between Ineos (31%), CCMP (58%), and PQ management (11%). PQ is a global producer of inorganic chemicals, catalysts, and engineered glass products.[47]

As of 2013, Solvay and Ineos were to create a 50:50 joint venture, which will see them combine their chlorvinyls sites in Europe. This joint venture will become the world's third-largest producer of polyvinyl chloride.[18]

INEOS acquired a company called Texas City Operations, on December 1, 2023 from its competitor, Eastman Chemical Company.[48] This includes a 600kt acetic acid plant and all associated third party activities.[49]

Ineos Automotive

Ineos Automotive Ltd. was formed in 2017 to develop and manufacture an off-road utility vehicle, intended as a "spiritual successor" to the Land Rover Defender, under the codename Projekt Grenadier.[50] In September 2019, it was initially announced that vehicle, now officially named Ineos Grenadier, would be manufactured in two new factories in Estarreja, Portugal (chassis and body) and Bridgend, South Wales (final assembly), with powertrains supplied by BMW. The launch was planned for 2022.[51][52] In December 2020 Ineos announced the final assembly would take place in Hambach, France, instead of South Wales.[53] The announcement was condemned by Welsh Labour MP Chris Elmore, who contrasted the decision to relocate production to the European Union with Ratcliffe's support for Brexit.[54]

2008

In April 2008 Ineos, which was experiencing adverse economic conditions, was at the centre of an industrial relations dispute with Unite over pension entitlements of the workforce at its Grangemouth Refinery, when the company decided to close the final salary pension scheme to new employees. Unite claimed the Grangemouth workers were paid £6,000 less than those at comparable facilities. The 48-hour strike that followed caused panic buying of petrol throughout the country and the Forties production pipeline, a third of Britain's North Sea oil production, being closed.[55] Ineos has been accused by some of buying assets then cutting costs through the introduction of new working practices, lower wages, and terminating pension schemes.[56] According to Ratcliffe, some 65 per cent of salary costs at Grangemouth related to pensions.[57][58]

2013

Stephen Deans, convener for Unite union at the Grangemouth plant where he worked, and also head of the Falkirk branch of the Labour party, was suspended from his employment at Grangemouth by Ineos in the summer of 2013, while they investigated what they said were accusations he had been using company resources for political campaigning; related to recruitment of Unite members in Ineos workforce to the local Labour branch, where the selection of a new parliamentary candidate was taking place after the de-selection of Eric Joyce. A Labour Party head office investigation into allegations that people had been made new members without them knowing or signing cleared Deans of the accusations, who had been suspended from the Labour party pending the investigation as well as the Unite candidate he was supporting.[55][59][60][61][62]

Unite said Deans was being subjected to "sinister" treatment, and in October an overtime ban at Grangemouth plant, which according to Ineos had operated at a loss of £150 million per year for the previous four years, started in protest.[55][61][62][63] A 48-hour strike was set for 20 October. Ineos announced the plant would be shut down before the strike and put forward a new deal direct to the workforce, warning that the plant might close permanently if it was rejected. Two-thirds of workers voted against accepting Ineos's proposal, which would have reduced pension, shift pay and redundancy entitlements in addition to a pay freeze. On 23 October Ineos announced the permanent closure of the petrochemical site at Grangemouth.[64] The next day the Unite union reversed its position and agreed to Ineos's proposals, which included an undertaking not to strike for three years.[65] Deans resigned from his job at Grangemouth on 28 October 2013 after Ineos presented its findings to his team.[66][67][68]