After months of back-and-forth debate over missed payments, Ineos has come to a settlement with New Zealand Rugby (NZR) to end its sponsorship of the team.
First reported by the New Zealand Herald, Ineos came to a confidential agreement with NZR to terminate the sponsorship deal, with both parties “satisfied with the outcome”.
The dispute came about last January when Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company announced that they would be axing its deal with NZR just three years into a six-year sponsorship deal that saw Ineos branding on the rugby team’s shorts and training kits.
While Ineos notified NZR of its plan to terminate the agreement, the team accused Ineos of not paying its first NZ$10m instalment for 2025. The axing of the contract also meant that NZR stood to lose NZ$21m for the rest of the year.
The rugby team also cited the potential of losing money on legal fees as it ultimately lodged an injunction against Ineos at a High Court in Wellington over the premature end to the sponsorship deal.
Despite this, the two organisations have now come to a settlement agreement, with the New Zealand Herald revealing that Ineos has paid the NZ$10m instalment it owed to NZR in addition to a small payment to the team.
An NZR statement read: “New Zealand Rugby and Ineos can confirm that a settlement has been reached between the two parties.
“Whilst the details remain confidential, both organisations are satisfied with the outcome and acknowledge a desire to now move forward.”
Moving forward
The result means that NZR can now focus on working to secure another lucrative sponsorship deal for its team as the instalment is believed to have put them in a stable financial position.
For Ineos, this represents a positive progression towards its scaling back of pre-existing sponsorship agreements it had across various sports.
Most recently, the majority owners of Manchester United exited a five-year sponsorship deal with fellow Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur last March. This saw Ineos’ Grenadier branding across the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while the firm is no longer the 4×4 partner of the club.
Radcliffe’s Ineos also made the decision to part ways with Sir Ben Ainslie as CEO of INEOS Britannia ahead of the 38th Americas Cup due to a breakdown in negotiations, which left Ainslie “astounded”.
A key reason as to why Ineos has scaled back on its sponsorship endeavours is due to challenging European economic conditions cited by Ratcliffe.
He and Ineos have also introduced a series of cost-cutting measures at Manchester United to reduce losses, such as the removal of free lunches and raising season ticket prices, which in turn has caused backlash amongst United supporters.
