Ineos did not buy a Premier League club because it was “difficult to rationalise”, says Bob Ratcliffe, the head of its football division.
His brother, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founded the chemical company which bought French top-flight club Nice in the summer.
Ineos has previously been linked with buying Chelsea from Roman Abramovich.
“We spent quite a lot of time looking at Premier League clubs,” Bob Ratcliffe told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek.
He said the company “looked at the valuations” but added that it was “pretty difficult to rationalise purchases in the Premier League at this time for us”.
In 2017, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is Britain’s third richest man, bought football club FC Lausanne-Sport, who play in the Swiss second tier.
He took over and rebranded cycling’s Team Sky in May and also invested £110m in Britain’s America’s Cup sailing team last year.
Bob Ratcliffe said “there was some exchange” with Chelsea but added that the company and the club were “a long way apart on valuation”.
He added: “After the noise around Chelsea there was a high proportion of clubs that people talked to us about.
“People talked to us about Newcastle but, again, you come back to a valuation in the 100s of millions and it’s very difficult to contemplate.”
