Lev Leviev

Lev Leviev
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lev Leviev
Born July 30, 1956 (1956-07-30) (age 51)Tashkent, Former Soviet Union
Occupation
Businessman
Spouse
Olga
Children
9
Lev Avnerovich Leviev (born on July 30, 1956 in Tashkent, Soviet Union) is a Bukharian Jewish billionaire who lives in Israel. Leviev is ranked 210th among the world’s wealthiest people, with an estimated personal net worth of $4.1 billion, although his associates put the figure closer to $8 billion.[1]
Contents[hide]
1 Biography
2 Business interests
3 References
4 External links
//

[edit] Biography
Lev Leviev was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1956. His parents, Avner and Chana Leviev, were prominent members of the Bukharian Jewish community. In 1971, when he was fifteen, his family immigrated from Uzbekistan to Israel. Shortly afterwards, Leviev began to work as an apprentice in a diamond polishing plant, learning the 11 steps of the diamond cutting process. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, he established his own diamond polishing plant.
With the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, Leviev expanded his business endeavors into Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He received the blessings for success in business and personal support of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson for his philanthropic activities, which include "an army of some 10,000 Jewish functionaries from Ukraine to Azerbaijan, including 300 rabbis. Most of the 300 rabbis are Chabadniks, adherents of the Brooklyn-based Hasidic group Chabad — fundamentalist, missionizing, worldly and centered on the personality and teachings of the late Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher rebbe."
Leviev lives in Bnei Brak, Israel, with his wife Olga and their nine children.

[edit] Business interests
He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Africa Israel Investments Limited, an investment company with enterprises in Israel and around the globe aiming for a market value of $7 billion by the end of 2007. Leviev purchased the company a decade ago for $400 million. It is his only publicly traded company.
Lev Leviev has investments in the diamond industry, real estate and chemicals. He owns Israel Plus, an Israeli Russian-language TV channel, and is chairman of Africa Israel Investments, an international holding and investment company involved in residential real estate, shopping malls, energy, fashion, telecom, and media. Leviev owns diamond mines in Russia and Africa, and is a major competitor to the De Beers international diamond cartel.
Leviev is a major supporter of Jewish philanthropic causes and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (FJC), an umbrella body representing Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union. He is the founder of the Ohr Avner Foundation (named for Leviev's father).
In 2005, Leviev's company completed a $230 million 5,800 apartment project in Modi'in Illit, for the Haredi sector.
Leviev recently opened a luxury jewelry store on Old Bond Street in London. He has plans to invest billions in the Far East, and is considering investments in Argentina, Brazil and Russia.[2]

[edit] References
^ "The Missionary Mogul", The New York Times Magazine
^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/821056.html

[edit] External links
Leviev Diamonds
Israel Diamond Industry Official Site
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Leviev"