Petrochemical giant Ineos has built on a number of 2017 acquisitions – after taking a punt on a top flight Swiss football club.
The energy giant, which is building a North Sea empire and also owns the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, announced yesterday that it had bought Lausanne Sport.
Last month the new North Sea powerhouse completed the £200million acquisition of the North Sea Forties Pipeline System and Kinneil Terminal from super-major BP.
But the company moved from oil fields to football fields with the move for the top tier Swiss club.
Upon announcement of the purchase, Ineos gave its full backing to manager, Fabio Celestini, and his coaching staff.
Ineos have been consistent investors in youth football and have been particularly involved in the Canton Vaud region of Switzerland where the company is headquartered.
David Thompson, CEO of INEOS Football SA, said, “Working in close partnership with the management team behind Lausanne Hockey Club, we have helped achieve its goal of moving from Series B to Series A. We think that the same potential exists for FC Lausanne-Sport and its junior teams.
“We see no reason why in time they should not qualify for European football providing a golden opportunity to help develop junior players from the local area and from our new academy programme in Africa.”
Alain Joseph, the current owner and President of FC Lausanne Sport said: “The Presidency of Lausanne Sport, and its ownership has been for me a great responsibility and a great honor. But after six seasons as vice president and more than four years as President of Lausanne Sport the time has come for me to pass the baton.
“I may have owned the club, but it belongs to everyone who loves it; to its fans, demanding and faithful, to its sponsors, partners, players and the staff. And so it is a great responsibility and privilege to find a new owner for the club that will live up to your expectations.”
Ineos also owns and operates a number of Scottish sites, such as the Dalmeny storage and export facility, sites at Aberdeen, the Forties Unity Platform and associated infrastructure.
The completion of the acquisition, announced early last year, consolidated Ineos’ position as a top ten company in the North Sea and the largest privately owned exploration and production business operating in the energy basin.
It further expanded the firm’s oil and gas business interests following the acquisitions of the Breagh and Clipper South gas fields in the Southern North Sea in 2015 and formerly DONG Energy, now Ørsted ‘s oil and gas business at the end of September this year.
Around 20% of the oil that passes down the Forties pipeline feeds the Petroineos refinery, which in turn provides more than 80% of Scotland’s transport fuels.
The 235-mile pipeline system links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets to the UK mainland and the Ineos site in Grangemouth, Scotland, delivering almost 40% of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas production.
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