Access Industries

Access Industries, Inc. is an American privately held multinational industrial group.[1] 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,[1] venture capital[2] and real estate.[1] The group invests in the United States, Europe,[3] Israel,[4] and Latin America.[3] It is headquartered in New York, with additional offices in London and Moscow.[1]

Access Industries, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryConglomerate
Founded1986 (1986)
FounderLen Blavatnik
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
United States
Key people
Len Blavatnik (chairman)
Products
OwnerLen Blavatnik
Subsidiaries
Websitewww.accessindustries.com

History

Len Blavatnik founded Access Industries in 1986 as an investment company. He attended Harvard Business School while running the company on the side,[3] graduating with an MBA in 1989. Among its early investments, Access Industries helped form the large aluminum producer SUAL in 1996, which later became part of UC RUSAL. In 1997, Access acquired a 40% stake in the Russian oil company TNK.[5] Half of TNK was sold to British Petroleum (BP) to form TNK-BP in 2003,[3] in what was the largest-ever foreign investment in a Russian company.[6] In 2013 Rosneft acquired TNK-BP for $55 billion,[7] with Access Industries selling its stake and Blavatnik collecting US$7 billion for his share of the oil venture.[5]

Access purchased a large stake in the fashion label Tory Burch in 2004.[8] In 2006, Access Industries took an estimated 70% stake in Top Up TV, a pay TV service in the United Kingdom[9] which sold its subscriber business to Sky in 2013.[10] In 2007, Access Industries purchased a majority stake in the sports media company Perform Group.[9] Also that year, Access became an owner in Acision, a software company focused on messaging systems.[11] Acision was acquired by Comverse, Inc. in 2015.[12] As of 2010, Access retained ownership in companies such as Icon Film Distribution UK,[9] Perform Group, Top Up TV, Amedia, RGE Group, and Warner Music Group (WMG).[13] On July 20, 2011,[14] Access acquired Warner Music Group[8] for US$3.3 billion.[15]

Access Industries has made a variety of contributions to political candidates in local, state and national elections in the United States.[16][17] 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.[18] After investing in Facebook before its IPO, Access exited its Facebook holdings in late 2015.[2]

Current holdings

As of 2016, Access Industries continued to have stakes in companies such as UC Rusal, LyondellBasell, Rocket Internet, Warner Music Group, and Zalando.[5] In April 2017, Access Entertainment purchased a stake in RatPac Entertainment.[19]

Natural resources and chemicals

Among Access Industries' current holdings are businesses[1] in oil,[20] petrochemicals,[21] power generation,[22] aluminum[5] and biotechnology.[23] Access helped form the large aluminum producer SUAL 1996 with a combination of mergers and acquisitions.[5] In 2007 SUAL merged with RUSAL and the alumina business of Glencore International AG[24] to form UC RUSAL.[5] RUSAL raised $2.24 billion in a 2010 IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange,[25] and as of 2017 it was the world's largest aluminum producer.[5]

In 2005 Access acquired Basell Polyolefins, a Dutch company[21] specializing in polyolefins.[7] On December 20, 2007, Basell acquired the commodity chemicals company Lyondell[21] for approximately $20 billion.[7][21] The resulting company, LyondellBasell Industries,[7] was impacted by the 2008 financial crisis,[7][26] and in 2009 the US operations of LyondellBasell Industries filed for bankruptcy.[26] With financing in part from Access Industries,[5][27] in 2010[27] LyondellBasell emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a significantly improved financial position. With a value of $15 billion,[7] it was subsequently ranked as the world's third-largest chemical company based on net sales.[7][26] Access Industries repurchased a large stake in the company in 2013.[7] As of 2017, Access owned approximately 18% of LyondellBasell.[28]

Since 2013, Access Industries has owned Clal Industries Ltd. (CII), an Israeli industrial investment group.[4][23] Among CII's main investments are Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises, Hadera Paper, Golf & Co., Clal Biotechnology,[23] and the logistics group Taavura.[29] 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.[20] On August 18, 2017, Access Industries and a consortium of investors agreed to acquire the energy company Calpine Corporation for $5.6 billion.[22]

Media and telecommunications

Access Industries has a number of portfolio companies in the media and telecommunications industries.[1] Ice,[30] an internet and telecommunications company in Scandinavia,[31] is primarily owned by Access Industries.[32] In Israel Access owns a third of RGE Group Ltd., a privately held media group[33] with assets including Channel 10,[4] Noga Communications and the Sports Channel.[33] Access Industries also owns a majority[34] stake in Amedia, a large Russian film and TV studio[35] known for shows such as Poor Nastya. Amedia earned exclusive rights to premiere HBO content in Russia in July 2017.[36]

Access invested in Warner Music Group (WMG) in 2004 with various co-investors.[37] After a partial sale of WMG was completed through an IPO on the NYSE in May 2005, Access continued as a significant shareholder[38] with a 2 percent stake prior to 2011.[39] Access acquired WMG[8] for US$3.3 billion,[15] including $320 million in cash and the assumption of $2 billion of WMG debt.[39]

Access Industries owns AI Film[8][13] in London, a film finance and executive production company established in 2013.[40] Since November 2014, Access Industries has owned a majority stake in DAZN Group Limited, a sports media company[41] which Access formed in 2007[42] by merging Inform and Premium TV.[43] Perform Group owns the sports website Sporting News[44] and launched the sports streaming video service DAZN in 2016.[45] As of 2019, Access held over 85% of the group.[44]

In May 2015, Access Entertainment was established with the hiring of its president, Danny Cohen, BBC's former director of television.[18] They took a 25% stake in Bad Wolf international TV firm, and have a financing venture for drama programming with BBC Worldwide/Lookout Point and a development slate deal with House Productions. In April 2017, Access Entertainment purchased James Packer's ownership share of RatPac Entertainment, which includes the joint venture, RatPac-Dune Entertainment.[46]

In 2018, Pearlfisher has created the new identity for Access Entertainment.[47]

Technology

In 2015 Access Industries launched Access Technology Ventures, a venture and growth technology investment arm focused on pre-IPO "unicorns."[2] As of 2017 it had investments in companies including Snapchat, Square, Yelp, Alibaba, Rocket Internet,[2] Deezer,[48] Gett,[49] Spotify,[2][45] 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.[50] Access Industries formed First Access Entertainment in October 2015, which focuses on talent development and representation in music, entertainment, and fashion.[51]

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:[1][52]

Political activities

In 2015, Access Industries donated $1.8 million to Super PACs supporting Republican presidential candidates Scott Walker and Lindsey Graham.[57]

References
  1. Company Overview of Access Industries, Inc, Bloomberg, retrieved December 16, 2017
  2. Meet the $2.5 Billion Venture Firm You've Never Heard Of, Fortune, May 30, 2017, retrieved December 16, 2017
  3. Yenikeyeff, Shamil (November 23, 2011), BP, Russian billionaires, and the Kremlin: a Power Triangle that never was (PDF), Oxford Energy Comment, retrieved December 15, 2017
  4. Negotiations Underway to Sell Control of Channel 10 to Jewish Billionaire Len Blavatnik, Haaretz, November 13, 2013, retrieved December 17, 2017
  5. Len Blavatnik, Bloomberg, retrieved December 15, 2017
  6. "Battle for TNK-BP turns into all-out war", The Guardian, July 26, 2008, retrieved December 15, 2017
  7. "How One Billionaire's Bet On LyondellBasell Turned Into The Greatest Deal In Wall St. History", Forbes, July 30, 2014, retrieved December 15, 2017
  8. The rise of billionaire Len Blavatnik, one of Wall Street's greatest dealmakers, Business Insider, February 25, 2016, retrieved December 16, 2017
  9. "Property and industrial mogul Len Blavatnik puts his money in music", The Guardian, June 13, 2011, retrieved December 15, 2017
  10. Top Up Tv, Top Up TV, June 2015, archived from the original on December 17, 2017, retrieved December 15, 2017
  11. Acision's backers give mobile firm $100 mln more, Reuters, October 4, 2010, retrieved December 15, 2017
  12. Comverse Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Acision; Combined Company to Extend Global Leadership in Next-Generation Digital Service Solutions, Xura, June 15, 2017, retrieved December 15, 2017
  13. UPDATE: Weinstein Co Making Film Deal With Len Blavatnik/Stewart Till's Icon UK, Deadline Hollywood, October 11, 2010, retrieved December 16, 2017
  14. "Access Industries Completes Acquisition of Warner Music Group", by Ed Christman Billboard, 20 July 2011
  15. Smith, Ethan, "Deal Values Warner Music at $3.3 Billion", The Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2011 12:39 P.M. EDT. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  16. Access Industries, OpenSecrets.org, retrieved December 16, 2017
  17. "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race". The New York Times. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  18. Szalai, Georg (May 12, 2016). "Former BBC TV Boss Danny Cohen Joins Len Blavatnik to Launch Access Entertainment". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  19. Hipes, Patrick (April 18, 2017). "Len Blavatnik's Access Acquires RatPac Entertainment Stake". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  20. Apollo's EP Energy files for IPO a year after buyout, Reuters, September 4, 2013, retrieved December 17, 2017
  21. "Basell Closes Lyondell Chemical Deal", The New York Times, December 21, 2007, retrieved December 15, 2017
  22. Calpine Agrees to be Acquired by Investor Consortium Led by Energy Capital Partners, Calpine, August 18, 2017, retrieved December 17, 2017
  23. Access Industries offers to buy rest of Clal Industries, Reuters, June 23, 2013, retrieved December 17, 2017
  24. Bain, SK Hynix group ups bid for Toshiba chip unit to $22 billion: sources, Reuters, September 8, 2017, retrieved December 15, 2017
  25. "Rusal is first Russian company to list on Hong Kong exchange", The Guardian, December 31, 2009, retrieved December 15, 2017
  26. "LyondellBasell May Seek Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection", nytimes.com, January 2, 2009, retrieved December 15, 2017
  27. Lyondell Chemical emerges from bankruptcy, Reuters, April 30, 2010, retrieved December 15, 2017
  28. SEC report, LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB), April 6, 2017, retrieved December 15, 2017
  29. Blavatnik Offers to Buy Rest of Clal Industries, Jewish Business News, June 23, 2013, retrieved December 17, 2017
  30. About - History as AINMT, IceGroup.com, retrieved December 17, 2017
  31. AINMT buys 30% of Nextel Brazil, may raise it to 60%, Telecompaper, June 6, 2017, retrieved December 17, 2017
  32. Company Overview of AINMT Holding AB, Bloomberg, retrieved December 17, 2017
  33. Blavatnik Increases Stake in RGE Media Group, Haaretz, April 30, 2010, retrieved December 17, 2017
  34. Amedia, Access Industries, retrieved December 17, 2017
  35. "Amedia, Russia's Largest Privately Owned TV Studio, Reportedly Seeks Buyer", The Hollywood Reporter, October 23, 2014, retrieved December 17, 2017
  36. "HBO, Russia's Amedia Strike Exclusive Deal", The Hollywood Reporter, July 25, 2017, retrieved December 17, 2017
  37. Is new Warner Music buyer a sucker or savant?, San Diego Union-Tribune, May 6, 2011, retrieved December 15, 2017
  38. Warner Music IPO, but who's buying?, CNN, March 11, 2005, retrieved December 15, 2017
  39. "Warner Music Group being sold for $1.3 billion to Access Industries amid industry decline", Associated Press via The Washington Post, May 6, 1:38 PM EDT. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  40. AI Film Who We Are, AI Film
  41. Ted Menmuir. "Perform Group to de-list as Access Industries takes over". SBC News. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  42. Perform Group to de-list as Access Industries takes over, SBC News, November 13, 2014, retrieved December 17, 2017
  43. Perform Group surges on offer from Access Industries, Financial Times, September 1, 2014, retrieved December 17, 2017
  44. Perform, AccessIndustries, archived from the original on June 27, 2019, retrieved July 8, 2019
  45. Blavatnik's Perform Group rebuffs tech investors to build 'Netflix for sport', The Telegraph, August 20, 2016, retrieved December 15, 2017
  46. Hipes, Patrick (April 18, 2017). "Len Blavatnik's Access Acquires RatPac Entertainment Stake". Deadline. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  47. "Pearlfisher Rebrands Access Entertainment - Logo Designer".
  48. Warner Music's Parent Company Now In Control of Deezer Following French Approval, Billboard, September 8, 2016, retrieved December 17, 2017
  49. VW invests $300M in Uber rival Gett in new ride-sharing partnership, TechCrunch, May 24, 2016, retrieved December 17, 2017
  50. Access Technology Ventures Leads $300 Million Investment Round for Essential Products Inc., BusinessWire, August 9, 2017, retrieved December 17, 2017
  51. Sarah Stennett Partners with Len Blavatnik's Access Industries To Launch Joint Venture "First Access Entertainment, WMG.com, October 28, 2015, retrieved December 17, 2017
  52. Industries, Access Industries, retrieved December 16, 2017
  53. "The Dream of Creating Another Buenos Aires" Archived March 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Faena Properties, December 13, 2003. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  54. "Grand-Hôtel Du Cap-Ferrat On Mediterranean Coastline To Become Four Seasons Property", Forbes, April 23, 2015, retrieved December 16, 2017
  55. Len Blavatnik's Access Industries Buys One&Only Ocean Club Resort in Bahamas From Brookfield, Jewish Business News, June 10, 2014, retrieved December 16, 2017
  56. The new Shahs of Sunset: Behind Jeff Klein's deal to bring in Len Blavatnik as partner on Sunset Tower Hotel, The Real Deal, May 24, 2017, retrieved December 16, 2017
  57. "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race". The New York Times. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
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