TheChek News Flow

Move boosts chemicals group’s growing sports investment portfolio

Ineos is set to become a sponsor of the Mercedes Formula One team, as the chemicals group controlled by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe continues to grow its portfolio of sports business interests.

The deal is likely to be announced within weeks, according to people close to the discussions, and will see the Ineos logo emblazoned against the car driven by world champion Lewis Hamilton in time for the start of the F1 season in March.

The sponsorship will be worth around £20m a year according to a person with knowledge of the talks, around the same amount paid by other companies that have endorsed F1 teams, although Mercedes’s dominance of the motorsport series over recent years means it could demand a higher premium.

The move will add to Ineos’s growing portfolio of sports investments over recent years.

Last year, it acquired French football club OGC Nice for €100m, adding to acquisitions of Lausanne Sports FC of Switzerland, and the UK road cycling organisation Team Sky which has since been renamed Team Ineos.

The company is also funding the British team led by Ben Ainslie that is attempting to win the America’s Cup, the most prestigious event in sailing. It also backed the successful effort by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge last year to run a marathon in under two hours.

The new sponsorship deal would create stronger ties to the Mercedes team, with the group having already signed a partnership with the F1 outfit’s applied science division to work on innovations designed to assist Ineos’s cycling and sailing teams.

The endorsement deal also forms part of a brand-building exercise for a company with business interests worldwide. Sir Jim told The Times last year that his sports investments have raised the profile of Ineos, allowing him to conduct deals in key territories, such as China and the Middle East.

The privately owned group was founded two decades ago by Sir Jim and its expansion into one of the largest suppliers of petrochemicals and speciality chemicals has made him one of Britain’s richest people.

Ineos owns refineries and North Sea oil and gasfields, and has plans to begin manufacturing a 4x4 off-road vehicle inspired by the Land Rover Defender.

It is also one of the biggest investors in the UK’s nascent shale gas industry. Sir Jim’s wealth was estimated at £18bn by the Sunday Times Rich List, making him the UK’s third-richest person. It was previously reported that he was moving to Monaco for tax reasons, but he declined to comment on this when interviewed by the Financial Times last year.

Group led by Lawrence Stroll to inject £182m into embattled sports car maker

Aston Martin will raise £500m through a rights issue and issuing fresh shares to a consortium led by Formula 1 billionaire Lawrence Stroll, in a move that will trigger the departure of its chairman and a shake-up of the struggling luxury carmaker’s business plan.

Mr Stroll’s consortium will inject £182m for a stake of 16.7 per cent in the business at a price of £4 per share, while Aston will issue a rights issue of £318m following the company’s results next month. His stake will rise to 20 per cent following the rights issue.

He will become executive chairman of the company, leading to the departure of Penny Hughes, the former Coca-Cola executive who joined the business immediately before its initial public offering a year and a half ago.

Mrs Hughes’ departure following an investment by Mr Stroll was first reported by the Financial Times on Thursday.

Mr Stroll’s consortium, which includes business figures such as Anthony Bamford, will issue £55.5m in short-term working capital to Aston, to help the group.

The company will delay investment into a suite of electric vehicles — which had been expected from 2022 — until after 2025, and has pushed back the release of its Ferrari-rival supercar until 2022.

The DBX, the group’s first sport utility vehicle, will still begin production in the second quarter of this year.

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