Ineos

Ineos is a privately owned British chemicals company, and by revenue the third largest in the world (after BASF and Dow Chemical). Its headquarters are located in the small village of Lyndhurst in Hampshire, England. Chairman, CEO and main shareholder Jim Ratcliffe was tenth on the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, with estimated wealth of £3.3 billion.

Additional recommended knowledge

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

Weighing the right way

How to quickly check pipettes?

Ineos was formed in 1997 to effect a management buy out of the former BP petrochemicals assets in Antwerp, Belgium. 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 it agreed to purchase Innovene, BP’s olefins and derivatives and refining subsidiary, which has an estimated 2005 turnover of $25 billion, for $9 billion. The deal, which was completed on 16 December 2005, roughly quadrupled Ineos's turnover, which was previously around $8 billion.

Ineos reportedly prefers to run operations with minimal on-site management, the concept that "work teams" are better suited for handling of the workflow day to day, without middle-management.

^[1]

References

1. ^ http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2002/2002-03-06-05.asp