Leonard Blavatnik
Encyclopedia
Len Blavatnik (born June 14, 1957 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian-American businessman, currently living in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, including at a home on Kensington Palace Gardens
Kensington Palace Gardens
Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in west central London which contains some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British government MI9 centre used during the Second World War and the Cold War.A tree-lined avenue half a mile long...

. He has made his fortune through diversified investments, through Access Industries
Access Industries
Access Industries is a privately held, U.S.-based industrial group founded in 1986 by its chairman, Len Blavatnik. Access’s industrial focus spans three sectors: natural resource and chemicals; media and telecommunications; and real estate...

, in Russia, Europe, North and South America.

Origins

Born in the Soviet Union, he attended University in Moscow. He emigrated with his family from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 to the U.S. in 1978, and received a masters in computer science from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 and an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...

 degree from Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

 in 1989. In the West, he is known as Len Blavatnik.

Career

In 1986 he founded Access Industries, a New York-based international industrial group, of which he is Chairman and President. Access has long-term strategic holdings in Europe, North and South America. Initially, he moved into Russian investments, just after the fall of communism. With a friend from university, Viktor Vekselberg
Viktor Vekselberg
Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg is the owner and president of Renova Group, a large Russian conglomerate.-Business empire:Victor Vekselberg was born in 1957 in Western Ukraine. He graduated from the Moscow Transportation Engineering Institute in 1979...

, who formed the Renova investment vehicle, the two joined with Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman is a Jewish Russian businessman. Mr. Fridman graduated from Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986. In 1988 Fridman started his career in trading and financial services before founding Alfa Group Consortium in 1989...

's Alfa Group
Alfa Group
Alfa Group Consortium is one of Russia's largest privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special situation investments...

 to form the AAR venture. To date, Access has diversified its portfolio to include investments in industries such as oil, coal, aluminum, petrochemicals and plastics, telecommunications, media, and real estate.

AAR gained a controlling stake in Russian oil company TNK through privatisation auctions, then in 2003 sold 50% stake to British Petroleum to form TNK-BP
TNK-BP
TNK-BP is a major vertically integrated Russian oil company. It is Russia's third largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company in terms of reserves and crude oil production...

, one of Russia's largest oil companies, where Blavatnik serves on the board of directors.

Blavatnik also has interests in UC Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, where he sits on the board.

On May 6, 2011, Warner Music Group announced its sale to Access for US$3.3 billion. On July 20, 2011 an Access affiliate acquired Warner Music Group for $3.3 billion.

Mr Blavatnik is also a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Centre for International Business and Management at Cambridge University, a member of the board of Dean’s Advisors at the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

 and a member of the academic board at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

.

Mr. Blavatnik, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Access companies have supported many cultural and philanthropic institutions over the past 15 years, including serving as the primary benefactors for numerous, major art and cultural exhibitions, including the British Museum, Tate Modern, Royal Opera House, National Portrait Gallery and Museum of Modern Art.

Since 2007, the Blavatnik Family Foundation has supported the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists together with the New York Academy of Sciences. The annual award recognizes the accomplishments of outstanding young scientists in life sciences, physical sciences and engineering and provides all finalists with a significant cash prize.

Access Industries bought petrochemicals and plastics manufacturer Basell Polyolefins
Basell Polyolefins
Basell Polyolefins was a joint venture between BASF and Royal Dutch Shell. Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries acquired it from the venturers for $5.7 billion in August 2005...

 from Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

 and BASF
BASF
BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...

 for $5.7 billion in August 2005.

On 20 December 2007, Basell completed its acquisition of the Lyondell Chemical Company
Lyondell Chemical Company
LyondellBasell Industries is a public multinational chemical company based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was formed in December 2007 by the acquisition of Lyondell Chemical Company by Basell Polyolefins for $12.7 billion. LyondellBasell was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on October 14, 2010...

 for an enterprise value of approximately $19 billion. The resulting company, LyondellBasell Industries is the world's third largest chemical company based on net sales.

On January 6, 2009, the U.S. operations of LyondellBasell Industries filed for bankruptcy. On April 30, 2010, LyondellBasell emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a significantly improved financial position. As part of its exit financing, LyondellBasell raised $3.25 billion of first priority debt as well as $2.8 billion through the rights offering jointly underwritten by Access Industries, Apollo Management
Apollo Management
Apollo Global Management, LLC is a private equity investment firm, founded in 1990 by former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker Leon Black. The firm specializes in leveraged buyout transactions and purchases of distressed securities involving corporate restructuring, special situations and industry...

, and Ares Management. LyondellBasell stock has increased 67% in value since April 2010. Access currently owns approximately 16% of LyondellBasell.

On June 12, 2009, Access was reported to have made a £20 million bid for a 51% stake in the struggling broadcaster Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...

  However, Setanta failed to meet contractual obligations with The Premier League and on June 19, 2009, The Premier League terminated its contract with Setanta.

In early 2010, Access Industries was reported as one of the handful of bidders for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In 2010 Blavatnik sued JPMorgan Chase after losing $100 million after following Morgan's advice to buy mortgage securities of AAA credit rating
Credit rating
A credit rating evaluates the credit worthiness of an issuer of specific types of debt, specifically, debt issued by a business enterprise such as a corporation or a government. It is an evaluation made by a credit rating agency of the debt issuers likelihood of default. Credit ratings are...

  in 2007. The lawsuit is ongoing.

On July 20, 2011, an Access affiliate acquired Warner Music Group for $3.3 billion.

Wealth

In the Sunday Times Rich List 2011, Blavatnik was listed as the sixth richest person in the UK with an estimated fortune of £6.2 billion.

In Forbes' The World's Billionaire's List of 2011, Blavatnik was listed in 80th place with an estimated fortune of $10.1 billion.

Philanthropy

Blavatnik sponsors a Colel Chabad
Colel Chabad
Colel Chabad was founded in 1788 and is the oldest continuously operating charity in Israel. The institution runs a network of soup kitchens and food banks, dental and medical clinics, daycare centers, widow and orphan support, and immigrant assistance programs...

 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) food bank and warehouse in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, which sends monthly food shipments to 5,000 poor families in 25 Israeli cities, and before Jewish holidays to 30,000 families in 73 Israeli cities, towns and villages.

In 2010, it was announced that Blavatnik would donate £75 million to the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 to establish a new School of Government. The gift is one of the most generous philanthropic gifts in the University’s 900-year history. Blavatnik has also indicated the possibility of increasing his benefaction up to £100 million over time.

External links

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