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From The Times
January 30, 2007

Business big shot: Leonard Blavatnik

Dan Sabbagh

Leonard Blavatnik, 48, left the Soviet Union penniless at the age of 20, moving to the United States in 1978, where he studied for an MBA at Harvard. He is the sixth-richest person in the UK, worth £4.7 billion.

Mr Blavatnik made his substantial fortune from postcommunist Russia, taking significant stakes in TNK-BP, and aluminium group Sual, in both cases in conjunction with fellow oligarch Victor Vekselberg.

His Access Industries vehicle paid €4.4 billion for Basell, a petrochemical firm, from Shell and BASF in 2005.

Mr Blavatnik has dabbled in the media, sitting on the board of Warner Music, and joining an unsuccessful bid for Sportfive, a sports rights owner.

Two years ago, he relocated to London, paying a reported £41 million to outbid Roman Abramovich for a house on Kensington Palace Gardens, where Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel magnate, also lives.

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