Leonard Blavatnik

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Leonard Blavatnik
Born	1957 Russia
Occupation	Founder, Chairman and President
Net worth	▲ $7 billion USD, Forbes 400

Len Blavatnik (Russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник, Leonid Valentinovich Blavatnik) (born 14 June 1957) is a Russian-American businessman, currently living in New York and London.

Born into a Jewish family, he attended the Moscow Transportation Engineering Institute. He emigrated with his family from Russia to the U.S. in 1978, and received a masters in computer science from Columbia University and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1989. In the West, he is known as Len Blavatnik.^[1]

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 the Moscow Transportation Engineering Institute, Viktor Vekselberg, he formed the Renova investment vehicle, and the two joined with Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group 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, one of Russia's largest oil companies, for which he 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, and Warner Music Group.

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 and a member of the academic board at Tel Aviv University. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Eurasia Group in New York, and is Vice Chairman of the Kennan Council at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

Access Industries bought petrochemicals and plastics manufacturer Basell Polyolefins from Royal Dutch Shell and BASF for $5.7 billion in August 2005.

On 20 December 2007, Basell completed its acquisition of the Lyondell Chemical Company, paying $48 per share in cash to the latter's shareholders. Including the assumption of Lyondell debt, the deal has 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.^[2] Its lenders face losses of 90 cents on the dollar, according to press reports. The company's largest creditor, ABN Amro,^[3] purchased in 2007, by Royal Bank of Scotland was owed $3.47 billion. Other debt holders include Citigroup, UBS, and Merrill Lynch. As of January 12, 2009, the debt was priced at $0.44 to the dollar. RBS, which announced losses likely to be the highest in UK history in January 2009, came in for particular criticism as a result.^[4][5].

On the 12th June 2009 he was reported to have made a £20 million bid for a 51% stake in the struggling broadcaster Setanta Sports ^[6]

[edit] Wealth

In the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 he was listed as the sixth richest person in the UK with an estimated fortune of £4,670m.

In the Forbes 400 of 2007 he was listed in 45th place with an estimated fortune of $7.2 billion.

[edit] Reference and notes

[edit] External links

• Leonard Blavatnik's Company, Access Industries, Inc Corporate Website
• Forbes 400 profile
• Basell Polyolefins Corporate Website
• New York Times January 1 2009: LyondellBasell May Seek Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection