Sir Jim Ratcliffe faces growing concerns over the financial health of his chemicals empire as its debt pile is forecast to reach almost €12bn (£10bn) this year and his sporting interests including Manchester United and New Zealand rugby hit crisis point.
Two leading credit ratings agencies raised red flags over the Ineos Group weeks before it emerged that the billionaire industrialist would make another 200 redundancies at Manchester United and allegedly cut sponsorship payments to the All Blacks rugby team, blaming “the deindustrialisation of Europe”.
