Sailing, Baronet Ratcliffe beats Bertelli-Tronchetti duo in sponsor challenge
The boat Britannia goes to the America's Cup final backed by £110 million from Ineos, which is owned by the richest man in England (with x billion). Luna Rossa still defeated: Prada and Bertelli had invested 95 million Euros.
3' min read
3' min read
The British boat Britannia won the Louis Vuitton Cup by defeating the Italian Luna Rossa in the waters of Barcelona and dreams of winning the prestigious American Cup for the first time. The supersonic sailing race between the two overhead boats has given the British a ticket to the final, where they will take on New Zealand and try to bring home a trophy they have never won in the 173-year history of the competition. Neither have the Italians ever won it, although they have been competing since 2000, for 24 years now, and have competed in six editions, compared to Britannia's two.
The sea battle for the Auld Mug, the sailing cup, the oldest sporting trophy in history, was not only played out at sea, but also on a, more relevant, financial level: On the one side was the British multinational chemical company INEOS, a $65 billion turnover and 26,000 employees colossus; on the other side was the super-pairing Prada and Pirelli, the world's most famous Italian luxury brand and the historic tyre manufacturer, which together add up to €10 billion turnover. Sport is perhaps the most meritocratic place there is, because the best (almost always) wins. But in the case of Britannia and Luna Rossa the richest boat, the one with the most financial backing, won, perhaps not surprisingly.
Combat between Titans
.The Britaninia sail, helmed by Ben Ainslie, has the richest man in England behind her: Sir Jim Raticliffe, appointed baronet by Regina Elizabeth II in 2018, is a chemical engineer, with a background at Exxon and in finance, inside the Advent fund: he founded the INEOS group in 1998, from a division of BP (British Petroleum). In the same year he became 'Sir', his wealth was estimated at £21 billion, making him the wealthiest person in the United Kingdom. Perhaps that is why, two years later, he moved his residence from the green county of Hampshire to the more appropriate Montecarlo (which apparently saved him £4 billion in taxes).
Meanwhile, Britannia's backer has become even richer: last year Forbes calculated his wealth at 24 billion pounds. This is a stratospheric figure compared to the wealthy Italian entrepreneurs who support Luna Rossa: Patrizio Bertelli , the patron of Prada; and Marco Tronchetti Provera, the executive vice-president of Pirelli. The luxury tycoon boasts wealth of almost$6 billion the Milanese d0nsti captain is estimated at $1.4 billion. But the Englishman is three times bigger than both of them added together.
American Cup: how much do you cost me?
Baronet Ratcliffe has become England's Scrooge thanks to chemistry, but his passion is sport, which he finances handsomely: he owns the INEOS Grenadiers, the English cycling team, and is a (minority) shareholder in the Manchester United football club. Sailing, however, is infinitely more expensive than football and cycling: for the 37th America's Cup, Ratcliffe shelled out £120 million to put Britannia on the water. Luna Rossa spent around €95 million, a figure in line with past editions. Since he took up sailing, the Anglo-Monegasque tycoon has spent £250 million: should he win the America's Cup, he will have had a huge return on his investment. Estimating a similar figure for the past, Luna Rossa, on the other hand, would have cost almost half a billion Euros so far.
