Leonard Blavatnik

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Leonard Blavatnik, 2018

Sir Leonard "Len" Blavatnik , Kt ( Russian Леонид Валентинович Блаватник ; Leonid Walentinowitsch Blawatnik ; born June 14, 1957 in Odessa , Soviet Union ) is an American billionaire of Soviet origin. The entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist immigrated to the United States of America from the Soviet Union in 1978 at the age of 21 . He made a fortune by investing in a variety of companies with his affiliate, Access Industries . In June 2020 Blavatnik covered with a net worth of about 27 billion US dollars No. 51 on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world. In 2017, Blavatnik was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic activities . He lives in New York and London .

Family and studies

Blavatnik was born into a Jewish family in Odessa . He began studying at the Moscow State University of Transportation , but did not finish due to requests to emigrate from his family. In 1978 his family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States. After immigrating to the USA, he graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree . In 1989 he graduated from Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Holdings

In 1986 he founded his holding company Access Industries . The company, of which Blavatnik serves as chairman and president, is based in New York . Access has long-term investments in Europe and North and South America. Blavatnik originally opted for Russian investments immediately after the fall of communism . With his college friend Wiktor Wekselberg he founded the Access-Renova Holding in 1991 . The two eventually joined Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group and formed the AAR (Alfa-Access-Renova). Since then, Access has diversified its portfolio to include investments in oil, entertainment, coal, aluminum, petrochemicals and plastics, telecommunications, media and real estate. In 1996 Tyumen Oil (TNK), one of the largest Russian oil companies , was taken over and in 2003 it was incorporated into a joint venture with British Petroleum (BP) ( TNK-BP ). In the 1990s, involved himself Vekselberg and Blavatnik in the Russian aluminum industry . In 1996 they formed the Siberian-Urals Aluminum Company (SUAL), which in February 2007 was merged with RUSAL and Glencore to form the largest aluminum group RUSAL. Leonard Blavatnik is also the main participant in the Internet streaming service DAZN through the British Perform Group , which has been in operation since 2016.

In August 2005, Access Industries acquired a stake in the chemicals group Basell Polyolefins owned by Royal Dutch Shell and BASF for $ 5.7 billion. On December 20, 2007, Basell completed the acquisition of Lyondell chemicals company, valued at an estimated $ 19 billion. The resulting LyondellBasell company became the eighth largest chemical company in the world based on net sales. On January 6, 2009, LyondellBasell's US operations filed for bankruptcy. On April 30, 2010, LyondellBasell, now in a significantly improved financial position, stepped out of Chapter 11 protection . As part of its exit financing, LyondellBasell raised $ 3.25 billion of its top priority debt and a $ 2.8 billion subscription offer jointly guaranteed by Access Industries, Apollo Management and Ares Management. LyondellBasell's share price in US dollars increased fivefold from April 2010 to September 2014. Access owns approximately 14% of LyondellBasell. In May 2008, a share of 18.94 percent in Air Berlin was taken over. These shares were sold again in January 2009. In May 2011, Access Industries acquired Warner Music Group for $ 3.3 billion.

Entertainment industry

In 2010, Blavatnik was one of the few bidders for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . In May 2011, Access Industries acquired Warner Music Group for $ 3.3 billion. Blavatnik also owns AI Film, an independent film and production company that supported Lee Daniels ' film The Butler and the summer 2015 film Mr. Holmes .

In 2016, Blavatnik launched Access Entertainment and bought James Packer's stake in RatPac-Dune Entertainment. In 2017 he also bought a 24.9% stake in Bad Wolf.

According to reports in April 2018, Blavatnik was one of the highest bidders on the sale of Britain's third oldest theater, the Theater Royal Haymarket . Sources report that the hammer price was around £ 40 million.

Blavatnik was among the producers of the second most successful Russian film of all time, T-34 , which hit theaters in early 2019.

Memberships

Blavatnik is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the University of Cambridge's Center for International Business and Management , a member of the Dean's Advisors Board of Harvard Business School and a member of the Academic Board of Tel Aviv University .

property

In July 2004, Blavatnik bought a house in 15a Kensington Palace Gardens against a bid by Russian billionaire Roman Abramowitsch for 41 million pounds sterling (approx. 54 million US dollars ) . The house was built by James Knowles in 1854 and has ten bedrooms, nine bathrooms and four reception rooms.

Leonard Blavatnik bought numerous properties in New York City : In 2005 he bought the Ziegler House (2 East 63rd Street) for almost 31 million US dollars. In mid-2007 he bought the Bronfman Townhouse for US $ 50 million and another city apartment for US $ 27 million.

capital

Leonard Blavatnik is a multi-billionaire and one of the richest people in the world - according to Forbes , his net worth was approximately $ 17.9 billion in March 2019 . In 2018 he was listed as the 27th richest American, and in 2014 he was one of the most influential people in the world.

Philanthropic

Blavatnik, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Access companies have supported a large number of cultural and philanthropic institutions over the past 15 years and have been the main donors for numerous larger art and cultural exhibitions, including the British Museum , the Tate Gallery of Modern Art (which 2017 a new wing called the Blavatnik Building ), the Royal Opera House , the National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art .

Since 2007, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, together with the New York Academy of Sciences, has supported the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. The annual award honors the achievements of outstanding young scientists from the fields of life sciences, physics and engineering. All finalists will receive substantial prize money. In recent years, Blavatnik has supported the organization Kolel Chabad in Israel , which distributes monthly food parcels to around 5,000 poor families in 25 cities from its headquarters in Kirjat Mal'achi . On high Jewish holidays , up to 30,000 families in 73 Israeli cities and villages are supported with funds from the Food Bank.

In 2010, Blavatnik announced the endowment of £ 75 million to Oxford University . This is one of the largest donations in the university's 900-year history. Blavatnik also hinted at the possibility of increasing the total to £ 100 million over time. The Blavatnik School of Government started its first year in 2012 and the university started a new building using 26 million pounds of own funds. The buildings were planned by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and completed in summer 2015. The first dean of the school is New Zealand professor Ngaire Woods. In 2013, Harvard University announced it had received a $ 50 million donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation to sponsor businesses at the university. In 2016, Blavatnik supported the completion of the entrance area of ​​the Victoria & Albert Museum , which was planned by the London office AL_A of the architect Amanda Levete .

Political

In the 2008 US presidential election campaign , he supported Barack Obama with US $ 30,800. In the US presidential election campaign in 2012 he has Obama and his Republican challenger and former Governor of Massachusetts , Mitt Romney supported.

Blavatnik is a supporter of the Republicans in the United States . From 2015 to 2016 he donated a total of 7.35 million US dollars in six politicians of Republicans, including Senator from South Carolina , Lindsey Graham , the senator from Florida , Marco Rubio , and the senator from Arizona , John McCain . In February 2016, Blavatnik donated over $ 1 million to an anti-Donald Trump Republican group . He also donated $ 1 million to the Donald Trump Inauguration Committee . In August 2017, political scientist Bo Rothstein resigned from the Blavatnik School of Government in protest of Blavatnik's politics .

Blavatnik and his American wife, Emily, also donated to Democratic Party candidates, Kamala Harris , Charles Schumer , Andrew Cuomo and Hillary Clinton .

In 2017, Blavatnik was mentioned in a report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with Russian donations to the American government after it became known that two members of the Trump administration were lobbyists at Blavatnik's Access Industries. As of April 2016, Blavatnik contributed $ 383,000 to the Republican National Committee and $ 1 million to Trump's Inauguration Fund. However, he never donated directly to Trump's election campaign.

Personal

Blavatnik is married to Emily Appelson Blavatnik. They have four children together. He owns a Grade II listed building in Kensington Palace Gardens , which is valued at £ 200 million. Blavatnik is a friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Furthermore Blavatnik a longtime friend and business partner of Russian oligarch with Ukrainian descent Viktor Vekselberg .

Web links

Individual evidence

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  23. sueddeutsche.de ( Memento from February 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
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