UK’s richest man goes shopping

BRITAIN’S richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, is weighing up an expansion of his chemicals empire with a £550 million purchase in the US.

His firm Ineos has held talks with American mining group Tronox and the National Titanium Dioxide Company about buying a white pigment plant in Ohio.

The move comes as Tronox seeks approval from the US Federal Trade Commission to seal its merger with the National Titanium Dioxide Company.

Tronox has proposed Ineos buys the National Titanium Dioxide Company’s Ashtabula plant to allay the commission’s concerns over the merger.

It is not clear whether the commission will accept this solution.

Ratcliffe, 66, became Britain’s wealthiest man with an estimated net worth of £21 billion by creating Ineos through a series of audacious acquisitions from petrochemical and other firms, buying unwanted aspects of their businesses.

Recently, it was reported that he was also keen to expand his oil and gas interests with the £2.3 billion acquisition of North Sea oil and gas fields being sold by US giant ConocoPhillips.

The assets on sale include stakes in the Clair field west of Shetland and the Teesside oil terminal.

Ineos is said to have put down a deposit in return for three months’ ‘exclusive’ talks with ConocoPhillips.

Meanwhile, Ratcliffe, a Chelsea Football Club season ticket holder, was reported earlier this year to have made an approach for the club. But the bid was rejected by Roman Abramovich, the Russian tycoon who owns Chelsea.