Leonard Blavatnik
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Born: | 1958 Russia |
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| Occupation: | Chief Executive Officer, President |
| Net worth: |  $7 billion USD, Forbes 400 |
Leonard Blavatnik (born 1958) is a Russian-born Jewish billionaire; a business oligarch of American citizenship, residing in New York and London.
He emigrated with his family from Russia to the U.S. in 1978, studied computer science at Columbia University and received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1989. In the West, he is known as Len Blavatnik.
In 1986 he founded Access Industries, his Manhattan-based industrial investment company. Through this he moved into Russian investments, just after the fall of communism. With old school friend Viktor Vekselberg he formed the Renova investment vehicle, and the two joined with Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group to form the AAR venture.
AAR gained a controlling stake in Russian oil company TNK through privatization auctions, then in 2003 sold 50% stake to BP to form TNK-BP, one of Russia's largest oil companies.
Blavatik also has interests in Siberian-Urals Aluminum (SUAL), Bogatyr coal mines in Kazakhstan, property and telecommunications, including a 25% stake in Svyazinvest.
Access Industries bought petrochemicals and plastics manufacturer Basell Polyolefins from Royal Dutch Shell and BASF for $5.7 billion in August 2005.
[edit] Wealth
In the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 he was listed as 6th richest person in the UK with an estimated fortune of £4,760m.
In the Forbes 400 of 2006 he was listed in 40th place with an estimated fortune of $7 billion.
In 2004 he purchased a house in London's Kensington Palace Gardens for £41 million.
