British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe hopes to make Nice one of the strongest teams in France after his company Ineos bought the club, his brother Bob said in a news conference in the French city on Tuesday. Ratcliffe agreed on Monday to buy 100% of the club's shares through his petrochemical company for an undisclosed amount. The BBC reported Ineos had made a 100 million euros ($111.44 million) offer for Nice, currently managed by former France captain and World Cup winner Patrick Vieira, earlier this year. France's competition authority had cleared the takeover last week. Bob Ratcliffe did not confirm the amount paid for the club by Ineos. "The ambition is to reach Ligue 1's top four and regularly reach European championship (Champions League) within three to five years," said Bob Ratcliffe, the CEO of Ineos Football, which will run he club. Yet "without spending too much money," on expensive transfers of players, he said. Nice, who finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season, are the latest French club to be taken over by foreign investors. Paris St Germain, Olympique de Marseille and Girondins de Bordeaux have all been taken over by investors from the US or the Gulf in recent years. "We think the French championship is undervalued," Ratcliffe said. France's top soccer clubs have been relatively cheap to acquire by investors in comparison to those in England or Italy. The financial outlook for French clubs is seen as attractive given the rising price of TV rights and the size of the fan bases in large French cities such as Nice. Ineos, with revenue of around $60 billion, has already invested in several sports ventures such as Swiss second division side Lausanne in 2017 and the hugely successful cycling outfit formerly known as Team Sky in May. The team, which was renamed Team Ineos, won the Tour de France last month with Colombian Egan Bernal. Nice, who were founded in 1904, have won their first two games this season and are currently fourth in the French championship. — Reuters
