Does Jim Ratcliffe show entrepreneurial character traits?

The Ineos Group was founded in 1998 when Jim Ratcliffe, aged 45, led a £91 million management buyout of Inspec’s chemicals division from BP. Ineos remains a private company. Born in 1952, Ratcliffe is a chemical engineer and a qualifi ed accountant with a MBA who had previously worked for the US private equity house Advent –
a job that gave him the deal expertise he needed for the buy-out. Since then, he has built Ineos into one of the three largest petrochemical companies in the world, employing over 18,500 people at 181 sites across 22 countries, generating a turnover of some £45 billion and profi ts of £5.15 billion. He owns 60 per cent of the company.
Ineos produces products for industries such as fuels and lubricants, packaging and food and construction –
selling mainly to the USA, the UK, Germany, France and Benelux. Although not a household name, its products are used in many industrial processes: to clean water, manufacture antibiotics, make toothpaste, insulate homes, package food etc. Ineos is also involved in renewable energy and is one of the world’s leading pioneers in the development of generating sustainable energy from waste material. Ratcliffe built up the group by buying subsidiaries that other petrochemical giants did not want, mainly at auction using debt fi nance.