Access Industries, Inc. is an American privately held multinational industrial group. It was founded in 1986 by businessman Leonard "Len" Blavatnik, who is also its chairman. Access's industrial focus is in four areas: natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, venture capital and real estate. The group invests in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Latin America. It is headquartered in New York, with additional offices in London and Moscow.

History

Len Blavatnik Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik, russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник, Leonid Valentinovich Blavatnik (born June 14, 1957) is a Ukraine-born American-British business magnate and philanthropist. As of March 202 ...

founded Access Industries in 1986 as an investment company. He attended

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

while running the company on the side, graduating with an MBA in 1989. Among its early investments, Access Industries helped form the large aluminum producer

SUAL Siberian-Urals Aluminium Company (russian: Сибирско-Уральская Алюминиевая Компания), commonly known as SUAL (russian: СУАЛ), is a fully vertically integrated aluminium company that ranks amongst the world's t ...

in 1996, which later became part of UC RUSAL. In 1997, Access acquired a 40% stake in the Russian oil company TNK. Half of TNK was sold to British Petroleum (BP) to form

TNK-BP TNK-BP (Tyumenskaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya, Tyumen Oil Company) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. ...

in 2003, in what was the largest-ever foreign investment in a Russian company. In 2013,

Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petrol ...

acquired TNK-BP for $55 billion, with Access Industries selling its stake and Blavatnik collecting US$7 billion for his share of the oil venture. Access purchased a large stake in the fashion label

Tory Burch Tory Burch ( née Robinson; born June 17, 1966) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most power ...

in 2004. In 2006, Access Industries took an estimated 70% stake in Top Up TV, a

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, bu ...

service in the United Kingdom which sold its subscriber business to Sky in 2013. In 2007, Access Industries purchased a majority stake in the sports media company

Perform Group DAZN Group Limited (formerly Perform Group) is a British sports media company owned by Access Industries. Its flagship property is DAZN, a global sports subscription streaming platform. It also owns a significant minority stake in the leadin ...

. Also that year, Access became an owner in

Acision Acision was a privately held British mobile communications network infrastructure company engaged in messaging and charging systems that enable popular services such as Short message service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), mobile inte ...

, a software company focused on messaging systems. Acision was acquired by

Comverse, Inc. Xura, Inc. (NASDAQ: MESG), previously known as Comverse, Inc., was a technology company headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, United States, in existence from 2013 to 2017, that offered a portfolio of digital services which enabled global co ...

in 2015. As of 2010, Access retained ownership in companies such as

Icon Film Distribution Icon Productions is a production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey, which, unlike most other independent production companies, funds most of its development and production cos ...

UK, Perform Group, Top Up TV, Amedia, RGE Group, and

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...

(WMG). On July 20, 2011,"Access Industries Completes Acquisition of Warner Music Group", by Ed Christman

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

, July 20, 2011 Access acquired

for US$3.3 billion.Smith, Ethan
"Deal Values Warner Music at $3.3 Billion"
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', May 6, 2011, 12:39 P.M. EDT. Retrieved May 6, 2011. Access Industries has made a variety of contributions to political candidates in local, state and national elections in the United States. In May 2015, Access Industries launched Access Entertainment, a division headed up by former BBC Television boss Danny Cohen which specialises in investing in the entertainment media sector. After investing in

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

before its IPO, Access exited its Facebook holdings in late 2015.

Current holdings

As of 2016, Access Industries continued to have stakes in companies such as UC Rusal,

LyondellBasell LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is a multinational chemical company incorporated in the Netherlands with U.S. operations headquartered in Houston, Texas, and offices in London, UK. The company is the largest licensor of polyethylene and polypro ...

Rocket Internet Rocket Internet SE is a German Internet company headquartered in Berlin. The company builds startups and owns shareholdings in various models of internet retail businesses. The company model is known as a startup studio or a venture builder. It ...

, and Zalando. In April 2017, Access Entertainment purchased a stake in

RatPac Entertainment RatPac Entertainment (also known as RatPac-Dune Entertainment, a co-financing agreement it was part of) was an American motion picture production company owned by producer-director Brett Ratner. RatPac was founded by Ratner and billionaire James ...

Natural resources and chemicals

Among Access Industries' current holdings are businesses in oil, petrochemicals, power generation, aluminum and biotechnology. Access helped form the large aluminum producer

1996 with a combination of mergers and acquisitions. In 2007 SUAL merged with

RUSAL United Company RUSAL, international public joint-stock company (russian: МКПАО «ОК РУСАЛ», MKPAO «ОК RUSAL») is the world's second largest aluminium company by primary production output (as of 2016). It was the largest until ov ...

and the alumina business of

Glencore Glencore plc is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey. The current company was c ...

International AG to form UC RUSAL. RUSAL raised $2.24 billion in a 2010 IPO on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is rep ...

, and as of 2017 it was the world's largest aluminum producer. In 2005 Access acquired Basell Polyolefins, a Dutch company specializing in polyolefins. On December 20, 2007, Basell acquired the commodity chemicals company

Lyondell LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is a multinational chemical company incorporated in the Netherlands with U.S. operations headquartered in Houston, Texas, and offices in London, UK. The company is the largest licensor of polyethylene and polypr ...

for approximately $20 billion. The resulting company, LyondellBasell Industries, was impacted by the 2008 financial crisis, and in 2009 the US operations of LyondellBasell Industries filed for bankruptcy. With financing in part from Access Industries, in 2010 LyondellBasell emerged from

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

bankruptcy protection in a significantly improved financial position. With a value of $15 billion, it was subsequently ranked as the world's third-largest chemical company based on net sales. Access Industries repurchased a large stake in the company in 2013. As of 2017, Access owned approximately 18% of LyondellBasell. Since 2013, Access Industries has owned Clal Industries Ltd. (CII), an Israeli industrial investment group. Among CII's main investments are Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises, Hadera Paper, Golf & Co., Clal Biotechnology, and the logistics group Taavura. Also since 2013, Access has owned a significant interest in EP Energy, a North American oil and natural gas producer with a portfolio of fields in the United States and Brazil. On August 18, 2017, Access Industries and a consortium of investors agreed to acquire the energy company Calpine Corporation for $5.6 billion.

Media and telecommunications

Access Industries has a number of portfolio companies in the media and telecommunications industries.

Ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

, an internet and telecommunications company in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

, is primarily owned by Access Industries. In Israel, Access owns a third of RGE Group Ltd., a privately held media group with assets including Channel 10, Noga Communications and the

Sports Channel Sports channels are television speciality channels (usually available exclusively through cable and satellite) broadcast sporting events, usually live, and when not broadcasting events, sports news and other related programming. The first spo ...

. Access Industries also owns a majority stake in

Amedia Amedia AS is the second largest media company in Norway (the largest is Schibsted and the third largest is Polaris Media). The company is whole or partial owner of 50 local and regional newspaper with online newspapers and printing presses, ...

, a large Russian film and TV studio known for shows such as '' Poor Nastya''. Amedia earned exclusive rights to premiere HBO content in Russia in July 2017. Access invested in

(WMG) in 2004 with various co-investors. After a partial sale of WMG was completed through an IPO on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed co ...

in May 2005, Access continued as a significant shareholder with a 2 percent stake prior to 2011."Warner Music Group being sold for $1.3 billion to Access Industries amid industry decline"
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

'' via ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', May 6, 1:38 PM EDT. Retrieved May 6, 2011. Access acquired WMG for US$3.3 billion, including $320 million in cash and the assumption of $2 billion of WMG debt. Access Industries owns AI Film in London, a film finance and executive production company established in 2013. Since November 2014, Access Industries has owned a majority stake in DAZN Group Limited, a sports media company which Access formed in 2007 by merging

Inform Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released bet ...

and Premium TV. Perform Group owns the sports website

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

and launched the sports streaming video service

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

in 2016. As of 2019, Access held over 85% of the group. In May 2015, Access Entertainment was established with the hiring of its president, Danny Cohen, BBC's former director of television. They took a 25% stake in Bad Wolf international TV firm, and have a financing venture for drama programming with

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

/Lookout Point and a development slate deal with House Productions. In April 2017, Access Entertainment purchased

James Packer James Douglas Packer (born 8 September 1967) is an Australian billionaire businessman and investor. Packer is the son of Kerry Packer , a media mogul, and his wife, Roslyn Packer . He is the grandson of Sir Frank Packer. He inherited control ...

's ownership share of

, which includes the joint venture, RatPac-Dune Entertainment. In 2018, Pearlfisher has created the new identity for Access Entertainment. In December 2021, Access Entertainment sold their stake in Bad Wolf to

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Enterta ...

Technology

In 2015 Access Industries launched Access Technology Ventures, a venture and growth technology investment arm focused on pre-IPO "

unicorns The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or ...

". As of 2017 it had investments in companies including

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before th ...

Square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...

Alibaba Ali Baba is a character from the folk tale ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves''. Ali Baba or Alibaba may also refer to: Films * ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'' (1902 film), a French film directed by Ferdinand Zecca * ''Ali Baba'' (1940 film ...

Deezer Deezer is a French online music streaming service. It allows users to listen to music content from record labels, as well as podcasts on various devices online or offline. Created in Paris, Deezer currently has 90 million licensed tracks in i ...

Gett Gett, previously known as GetTaxi, is an Israeli B2B Ground Transportation Management (GTM) platform and marketplace, and B2C ride-hailing app headquartered in London, and owned by GT GetTaxi (UK) Limited Founded in 2010, Gett has raised mor ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, Zalando, and DigitalOcean. In August 2017, Access Technology Ventures lead a $300 million round of funding for the smartphone maker Essential Products, investing $100 million in the company. Access Industries formed First Access Entertainment in October 2015, which focuses on talent development and representation in music, entertainment, and fashion. Access Industries invested $137 million into Opendoor.

Real estate

Access owns a portfolio of hotels and other commercial and residential properties in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean, including: * 20 East End (

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. stat ...

) *

Faena Group Faena may refer to *A term in Spanish-style bullfighting *Faena Arts Center, in Buenos Aires, Argentina **Faena Hotel Buenos Aires The Faena Hotel Buenos Aires, formally known as Faena Hotel+Universe, is a five-star hotel in the Puerto Madero sec ...

(

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

"The Dream of Creating Another Buenos Aires"
''Faena Properties'', December 13, 2003. Retrieved January 12, 2012. and

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

) * Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat (

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation "Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

) *Grand Peaks (

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

) *MBS Media Campus (

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific coast south of El Segundo, west of Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, and north of Hermosa Beach. As of the 2010 census, the population was 35 ...

) *Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort (

Paradise Island Paradise Island is an island in The Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island, with an area of (2.8 km2/1.1 sq mi), is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the arc ...

) * Sunset Tower Hotel (

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

)

Political activities

In 2015, Access Industries donated $1.8 million to Super PACs supporting Republican presidential candidates Scott Walker and

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...

References