Sir Jim Ratcliffe may be the co-owner of Manchester United, but his petrochemical company Ineos was heavily involved with Tottenham Hotspur until recently
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's company Ineos has agreed to pay Tottenham Hotspur more than £11million to bring a lawsuit to a swift conclusion, according to reports.
The Manchester United co-owner's company was accused of breaching a five-year minimum contract worth £17.5m which enabled Tottenham to promote the firm's Grenadier as the club's "official 4X4 vehicle partner." The deal was believed to have been signed in 2022, but Ineos had been in partnership with Spurs since they were recognised as the club's "official hand-sanitiser supplier” during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Tottenham terminated their deal with Ratcliffe's firm in March and launched legal action three months later. They allege a £5m-plus annual instalment was not paid on December 1, having already allegedly not paid an inflation-related figure of around £500,000.
According to reports from the Telegraph, the total figure paid to Spurs is undisclosed, but a source close to the situation claimed the agreed figure was around half what the north Londoners were after.
Moreover, Spurs were looking for nearly £5.3m in damages when the deal was ended with more than two years left to run. Shortly after, Ineos responded by counter-suing Spurs for more than £1m.
They accused the north Londoners of taking part in sponsorship discussions with Audi, which were linked with Harry Kane's move to Bayern Munich.
In their counterclaim, Ineos said: "On or around 3 August 2023 (i.e. early in contract year two), Todd Kline of the club indicated to Ashley Reed of Ineos that the club had been in discussions with the German car manufacturer Audi AG in connection with rights which were the same as, or substantially similar to, the rights granted to Ineos under the agreement and/or the club had been negotiating with Audi in respect of rights which were exclusive to Ineos under clause 4 of the agreement.
"According to Mr Kline, the discussions and/or negotiations related to a proposed transfer of the club’s player Harry Kane to the German club FC Bayern Munich.”
Ineos' defence also stated the commercial partnership had "not materialised" but also resulted in Spurs and Ineos agreeing they "could terminate the agreement with effect from the end of year three of the contract term."
They insisted: "In the circumstances, it is the club which owes Ineos more than £1m for failing to provide any rights to Ineos in the final part of year three.”
Spurs did admit to holding commercial talks with Audi, but refuted the suggesting these talks gave Ineos the right to terminate their deal, due to the fact Spurs never made an agreement with the German car manufacturer. Tottenham claim the deal with Ineos "involved annual payments starting at £2.125m in year one and increasing to £4.6m in year five, all plus VAT and index-linked to the rate of inflation" and that they would be seeking interest "further or other relief as the court thinks fit”.
At the time, an Ineos spokesperson said: "Ineos Automotive was a partner of Tottenham Hotspur from 2022, expanding on a partnership agreement that Ineos Group had in place with the club since 2020. We had a contractual right to terminate our partnership contract and in December 2024 exercised that right.”
Ineos have cut ties with many major sports teams they had been sponsoring. They have already severed ties with Ben Ainslie's sailing team and the New Zealand All Blacks rugby union team.
In February, the Telegraph also reported the latter were launching legal action, claiming their deal, which was expected to run until 2027, was ended early, despite an agreement. Ineos have claimed they have been forced into cost-cutting due to "extreme" green carbon taxes in Europe.
Ratcliffe also blamed rising energy prices and taxes as the reason behind the company's decision to close their synthetic ethanol plant in Grangemouth Scotland, which saw 80 direct roles and a further 500 indirect jobs be lost.
