Warship Belfast
Corporate
Responsibility
Arbat Capital, together with partner Sir Timothy Lewin, undertakes restoration of British warship HMS Belfast
Sir Timothy Lewin is the son of Admiral Terence Lewin, a former head of the armed forces of the United Kingdom. Sir Timothy began his career in the financial markets in 1972 with the London Commodity Exchange, and later held a senior position with Edward Boustead & Co. In 1987, he founded his own brokerage firm and in 1991, Sir Timothy was invited by the British government to join a team of consultants providing advice to companies, government agencies and financial institutions in the former Soviet Union. Over the years, Sir Timothy has served as a director of many funds investing in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other emerging markets.
Arbat Capital is a partner in the British-Russian museum project The Last Witness, which symbolizes the unity of the Allied forces in the fight against fascism.
The Last Witness is a project intended to rebuild and support the famous British warship HMS Belfast, which is permanently berthed on the River Thames in central London. The Belfast is part of the Imperial War Museum. During the Second World War, the light cruiser Belfast participated in many battles in the North Atlantic. For two years the Belfast accompanied convoys of weapons and food to the freezing northern ports of Russia. The cruiser played a key role in the Battle of the North Cape (north of Norway), when the British Navy sank the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst, which had been menacing merchant ships in the Barents Sea bound for Murmansk with military supplies for the Russian front. The Belfast is the last remaining major warship that participated in battles with ships of the Scharnhorst’s class.
The Last Witness project was launched to save the Belfast: many individual parts of the ship, in particular the mast, were on the brink of destruction from corrosion. In the spring of 2010, attempts to raise funds to restore the mast failed. Then Severstal, SCF, and the Golubovich became partners in the project and new masts were delivered to London by August. On October 19 there was a ceremony to herald acceptance of the new construction. The objective of the Last Witness project was achieved: the Belfast renovation was complete. The cruiser is a major tourist attraction in London and an outstanding example of engineering. The ship can also serve as an interesting and unusual meeting venue and at a cost significantly lower than that of hotel conference facilities.
In 2013 Alexei Golubovich took the lead in organizing and financing a trip to London for seven WWII veterans. The sailors were able to celebrate Victory Day on the legendary Belfast, remembering their fellow sailors and past battles.