America's Cup: Court documents reveal INEOS claim over Challenger assets
by Richard Gladwell, Sail World NZ 1 May 14:32 BST
INEOS Britannia - Race Day 1 - America's Cup Match 2024 - Barcelona © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Details of the claim by INEOS Racing Ltd against Athena Racing Ltd have been revealed via documents available through the Commercial division of the High Court of England and Wales.
The Court states "the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim appearing to include claims concerning the ownership of the racing yacht INEOS Britannia and certain other vessels". Interestingly, that statement would seem to indicate that the subjust of team sponsorship is not included in the claim, and it is about ownership of assets only.
AND WHEREAS CPR61.2(1)(a)(iii) requires that claims concerning the ownership of a ship must be started in the Admiralty Court
The overview of the Claimant’s case is that, "having provided approximately £174 million of funding for the design, construction and testing of a racing yacht and related assets, the Claimant is entitled under the Agreement to ownership of those assets following its expiry. Wrongfully and in breach of contract, however, the Defendant has refused to transfer these assets to the Claimant and has wrongly disputed its obligation to do so."
The Defence/Counter Claim from Athena Racing, the team of the Cowes-based Royal Yacht Squadron, Challenger of Record for both the 2024 and 2027 America's Cups, is not available. However, the details of the disputed ownership are revealed in the documents filed with the Court by INEOS Racing.
The exact amount claimed is marked as "unspecified" in the covering claim form summary.
The claim has its roots in an Agreement signed less than 12 months after the conclusion of the 35th America's Cup sailed in Bermuda, where the then Land Rover BAR was eliminated after the Semi-Finals. A Partner Agreement was subsequently signed between companies associated with Athena Racing and INEOS Racing.
This relationship continued into the 2021 and 2024 America's Cups. The claim is brought under a Partner Agreement between the two entities dated 31 May 2021.
At the heart of the dispute is an "INEOS Option" clause, where the Sir Jim Ratcliffe-owned INEOS Racing entity was required, within 90 days of the conclusion of the 2024 America's Cup in Barcelona, to advise Athena Racing whether they wished to continue into the next America's Cup.
INEOS say that in a letter dated January 13, 2025, they advised Athena that INEOS "would not be exercising the INEOS Option".
"By its letter dated 13 January 2025, the Claimant instructed the Defendant pursuant to clause 4.2.7 of the Agreement to transfer all INEOS-funded Assets still owned by it to the Claimant (or its nominee) for no consideration."
"Wrongfully and in breach of the Agreement, the Defendant has refused or failed, within a reasonable time or at all, to transfer any of the INEOS-funded Assets held by it to the Claimant. The Claimant will say that, since a transfer of ownership of the INEOS funded Assets would have been straightforward to effect, a reasonable time would have expired by the end of February 2025 at the latest."
Clearly in the Claim, and by various media statements made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in mid January 2025, the multi-billionaire believed that INEOS Racing believed that by discontinuing its relationship with Athena Racing, it was entitled to the ownership of all assets, including the AC75 yacht Britannia, chase boats and other significant assets - without any further payment to Athena Racing.
In fact, at the time Ratcliffe declared that he would be mounting a new British challenge for the America's Cup, had a 150-strong design team already working, and appointed former COO, David Endean (now with Swiss entry Tudor Alinghi) as CEO of his new team. The Challenge was subsequently discontinued.
In the absence of a counter-claim or defence document lodged with the Court, it is unclear as to the position of Athena Racing. However, in two media sessions, following the signing of the Protocol in Auckland in August 2025, and later in a Zoom call following the announcement America's Cup Partnership, Athena Racing skipper and CEO, Sir Ben Ainslie, said that Athena Racing owned the assets from the 2024 Challenge, and they included the AC75 Britannia.
Quoting from a letter from Athena Racing's solicitor, INEOS Sports says that it was Athena's view that only if Athena “chooses to wind down its operations to a minimal level” would INEOS Racing be entitled to the assets of the 2024 Challenge.
At the heart of the dispute is a clause 4.2.7 in the Partner Agreement, which has not been published/released.
For its part, Athena Racing says it had obtained funding for a 2027 Challenge and was not winding down its operations, which would have triggered the transfer of assets to INEOS Racing.
The Claim by INEOS Racing also refers to the exchange of letters between solicitors for the parties going back to mid-late June 2018, in fact, before the Partnership Agreement was signed on June 29, 2018 - covering the unsuccessful 2021 America's Cup challenge by RYS in Auckland.
INEOS Racing also raised the subject of an agreement for the Applied Science Consultancy Services by Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited (“MBGP”), whereby MBGP provided design services to the Defendant for the purposes of designing the INEOS Britannia. Sir Jim Ratcliffe was a part-owner of MBGP at the time. In Auckland after the signing of the Protocol governing the 2027 America's Cup, Ainslie commented on the design input issue by MGBP, saying that Athena Racing had design know-how and expertise which pre-dated the MGBP involvement.
In its Claim, INEOS Sport requested the following by way of Specific Performance by Athena Racing:
- "To provide an account as to how the funding provided by the Claimant pursuant to the Agreement has been spent;"
- "To provide a full inventory of the INEOS-funded Assets; "
- "To transfer ownership of the INEOS-funded Assets held by the Defendant to the Claimant and to execute all such documents and do such acts and things as the Claimant may reasonably require to that end."
The matter has been transferred to the Admiralty Court.
Under the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) of the High Court of England and Wales, any legal claim concerning the ownership of a ship must be started in the Admiralty Court (which is part of the King's Bench Division of the High Court).