Ineos crowned biggest private company in UK
Chemicals group Ineos has been named as Britain’s biggest private company according to The Sunday Times Top Track 100 report.
Ineos was founded in 1998 by Jim Ratcliffe, a Lancastrian industrialist turned billionaire who built the business from scratch via a decade-long acquisition spree, snapping up unwanted operations from the likes of BP, Bayer and Amoco.
It is now a sprawling $54bn (£35bn) turnover giant with over 17,000 staff and 15 different businesses producing chemicals used to make everyday products such as car parts, textiles, food packaging and mobile phones.
Ratcliffe said: “It’s great to be named Britain’s biggest private company by the Sunday Times Top Track 100 report. We are now investing over £1bn to make our business even stronger and better than before”.
Ineos, which is headquartered in Switzerland for tax reasons, announced plans last year to invest £640m in shale gas exploration in the UK.
It wants to use the gas to help run its sites, including Grangemouth in Stirlingshire rather than relying on costly imports of shale gas from the US.