chemicals founded 1998 founder jim ratcliffe headquarters rolle switzerland head office lyndhurst hampshire united kingdom registered office key people jim ratcliffe ceo & chairman andy currie director john reece finance director jim dawson non executive director products chemical substances petrochemicals plastics revenue us 54 billion 2014 1 number of employees 17 000 1 website http ineos.com ineos group limited styled as ineos is a privately owned multinational chemicals company headquartered in rolle switzerland and with its registered office in lyndhurst hampshire uk . it is in the top ten chemicals manufacturing companies as measured by sales revenue . 2 jim ratcliffe is the founder chairman and 60 percent shareholder . 2 ineos is organised into around 20 standalone business units each with its own board . 2 contents 1 name 2 history 3 markets 4 joint ventures 4.1 petroineos 4.1.1 other ventures 5 products 6 industrial relations controversy 6.1 2008 6.2 2013 7 pollution 8 references 9 external links name edit ineos is an acronym of inspec ethylene oxidespecialities a name derived from their first acquisition in 1998 3 it also stems from one latin and two greek words that founder jim ratcliffe and his two sons found when searching for a company name . ineo is latin for a new beginning eos is the greek goddess of dawn and neos means something new and innovative . as a result the name ineos represents the dawn of something new and innovative 4 history edit part of the grangemouth petrochemical plant in scotland ; the site has been an oil refinery since 1924 part of the ineos facility in wilhelmshaven germany inspec had been formed by ratcliffe previously a director of us private equity group advent international and john hollowood in 1992 to undertake a management buy in of british petroleum s bp chemicals arm . 5 6 in 1995 inspec bought bp s ethylene oxide and glycol business for 78 million . 7 ineos was subsequently established as a company in 1998 by inspec director ratcliffe to buy out inspec s ethylene oxide facility in antwerp belgium . 8 9 the 84 million buy out was funded by scottish investment house murray johnstone 10 million ineos management 1.5 million and investment bank bt alex brown 72.5 million raised through junk bonds . 7 8 10 11 the company grew quickly through the acquisition of commodity chemical businesses from corporate giants such as bp ici and basf . there have been three distinct phases of ineos s growth . 12 the first spanned over ten years with ineos acquiring 22 companies between 1998 and 2008 . the most notable of these was the purchase of innovene the olefins and derivatives and refining subsidiary of bp in october 2005 for 9 billion 13 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 reduce . during this period a major competitor lyondellbasell filed for bankruptcy . 14 some predicted a similar fate for ineos but the company emerged from this period intact . since 2011 the company has continued to grow through a series of strategic joint ventures the largest of which was formed with petrochina combining ineos s refining interests at grangemouth in scotland and lav ra in france with petrochina s access to upstream raw materials . 15 the 50 50 joint venture which completed in june 2011 is called petroineos in the same month ineos and basf combined styrenics businesses to form another 50 50 partnership styrolution . 16 ineos s growth has continued through this period expanding production in the usa and china . most recently ineos announced a joint venture with solvay bringing together their european chlorvinyls businesses . 17 ineos s heritage is in a number of well known blue chip chemical companies . these include amoco basf bayer borealis bp degussa dow chemical company enichem erd lchemie hoechst ici innovene lanxess monsanto norsk hydro and solvay . the company was formed in 1998 to affect a management buyout of the former bp petrochemicals assets in antwerp belgium . 18 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 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 . 19 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 joined 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 . 20 in march 2010 ineos healthcare terminated its drug development programme for commercial reasons . in february 2011 ineos bio broke ground on a landmark advanced biofuels facility in florida . ineos bio s biorefinery will have the capacity to produce 8 million gallons of ethanol and 6 megawatts gross of electricity per year . the ineos bio process can produce ethanol and renewable energy from numerous non food feedstocks including construction and municipal solid waste forestry and agricultural waste . 21 in july 2013 ineos bio announced that the florida plant is producing cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale and claim to be the first in the world to do so using this new technology . 22 on 23 october 2013 ineos announced the closure of its petrochemical plant at grangemouth scotland 23 following a dispute with the unite trade union over pensions and an attempt to impose a wage freeze and new contract on the workforce . however by 25 october 2013 the union gave in to the closure threats and agreed to all ineos s demands meaning the plant would stay open and strike free for three years . 24 markets edit ineos provides products for many markets including fuels and lubricants 23.3 % packaging and food 18.5 % and construction 16.1 % . other markets include automotive & transport white goods & durables pharmaceutical & agrochemical and textiles . 25 the majority of ineos s geographic earnings are distributed across germany 16.8 % usa 16.1 % uk 12.3 % france 11.6 % and benelux 10.8 % . 25 ineos is involved in renewable energy and is one of the world s leading pioneers in the development of generating sustainable energy from waste material . 26 ineos reportedly runs operations with minimal head office management feeling that work teams are better suited for handling of the workflow day to day without middle management . 27 the group made initial enquiries into southampton football club as of january 2014 . in november 2014 ineos announced plans to invest up to 640m in shale gas exploration in the uk . the company plans to use the gas as a raw material for its chemicals plants including grangemouth near falkirk . 28 joint ventures edit petroineos edit 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 lav ra france and one in grangemouth scotland . 29 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 scotland and lavera france 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 . 30 other ventures edit pq corporation is a joint venture between ineos 51 % and ccmp 49 % . it is a global producer of inorganic chemicals catalysts and engineered glass products . 31 most recently solvay and ineos are 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 pvc . 17 products edit ineos manufactures and distributes a wide range of petrochemicals specialty chemicals and oil products 25 business products ammonia nitric acid ammonia and nitric acid baleycourt esters biodiesel and chlorinated paraffins chlorotoluenes benzyl alcohol benzyl chloride benzaldehyde benzoyl chloride benzotrichloride dibenzyloxide ortho chlorobenzyl chloride and ortho chlorobenzaldehyde compounds pvc compounds ethanol ethanol inovyn brine caustic soda chlorinated solvents chlorine derivatives chlorine edc ethylene propylene pvc recycled pvc and vcm melamines formaldehyde and melamine formaldehyde resin nitriles acetonitrile acrylonitrile ammonium sulfate hydrogen cyanide and maleic anhydride catalyst olefins and polymers europe benzene butadiene ethylene hdpe ldpe compounds ldpe lldpe polymerisation ziegler catalysts polypropylene propylene and toluene olefins and polymers usa butadiene butane crude benzene ethane propane mix ethylene fuel oil hdpe mixed butenes other bottoms liquids polypropylene propane and propylene oligomers dib isoolefins isoparafins ia isoamylene tame linear alpha olefins poly alpha olefins polyisobutene technikum cyclopentane cp70 methylpropadiene oxide acetate acetate esters alkoxilates alkoxylates enb & glycol ethers eoa ethanolamines ethyl acetate ethylene glycol ethylene oxide glycol ethers oxo alcohols propylene glycol and propylene oxide paraform cyanates dimethoxymethane formaldehyde hexamethylenetetramine paraformaldehyde and triallylcyanurate phenol acetone alpha methylstyrene ams cumene and phenol salt granular salt pure dried vacuum salt salt tablets and undried vacuum salt solvents diisopropyl ether ethanol isopropyl alcohol methyl ethyl ketone and s butyl alcohol styrolution abs amsan asa resin compounded grades ethylbenzene general purpose polystyrene high impact polystyrene nas polyethylbenzene polystyrene polymers hips san sbc styroflex specialty compounding styrene and styrene monomer sulphur chemicals sulfur dioxide sulfur trioxide sulfuric acid and ultra pure acid technologies licenses world class petrochemical technology for polyethylene polystyrene vinyls polypropylene acrylonitrile chlor alkali trading and shipping trades and supplies petrochemical feedstocks hydrocarbons energy and carbon credits for both internal and external customers upsteam shale natural gas exploration and production of natural gas from on shore shale deposits . produces uk gas on the national grid . upstream breagh supplies natural gas to one in ten uk households . ineos enterprises consists of the following sub businesses ammonia nitric acid baleycourt chlorotoluenes cmpounds ethanol melamines paraform salt solvents and sulphur chemicals . industrial relations controversy edit 2008 edit in april 2008 ineos which was experiencing adverse economic conditions was at the centre of an industrial relations dispute with unite the union 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 the union claimed the grangemouth workers were paid 6 000 less than those at comparable facilities . 32 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 . 33 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 . 32 according to ratcliffe some 65 per cent of salary costs at grangemouth related to pensions . 34 35 2013 edit 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 ;