* L1 Energy to invest $10 bln equity, borrow rest
* German Khan to be CEO, recruiting managers
* Looking at 5-6 deals over 3-5 years
* First transaction likely in 2014
* Ex-CEOs Browne, Gould, Hackett join advisory board
By Douglas Busvine
MOSCOW, June 17 (Reuters) - Billionaire Mikhail Fridman'sAlfa Group will invest $20 billion or more in global oil and gasprojects through a new fund it has set up that will be advisedby top-ranking former oil bosses, including ex-BP chiefexecutive Lord Browne.
The L1 Energy fund will be run by German Khan, a partner ofFridman's, and will invest the bulk of Alfa's proceeds from thesale of oil venture TNK-BP this year in what was Russia'slargest-ever takeover deal.
Alfa, which owned a quarter stake in TNK-BP, reaped $14billion in March when state oil major Rosneft completed the purchase of Russia's third-largest oil firm. Thebulk of that windfall will go into oil and gas deals.
"The shareholders plan to invest around $10 billion inequity over the next 3-5 years in order to build a global oiland gas business," Stan Polovets, who will be lead member of theL1 Energy advisory board, told Reuters in an interview.
"With leverage, L1 Energy could spend over $20 billion onacquisitions and partnerships by 2018."
In a statement, L1 Energy named Lord Browne, Andrew Gouldand Jim Hackett as members of the advisory board, which willadvise on overall strategy, investment opportunities, and reviewinvestment performance and governance.
Browne, now a partner at energy-focused private equity fundRiverstone, led BP from 1995 to 2007 and masterminded theBritish oil major's highly profitable deal to buy a 50 percentstake in TNK-BP back in 2003.
Gould is chairman of BG Group and was previouslychairman and CEO of oil services company Schlumberger,while Hackett is former executive chairman and CEO of U.S. oilindependent Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
Khan, 51, a hard-charging boss who was executive director atTNK-BP through its decade as a joint venture, is hiring amanagement team for the fund and has brought in headhuntersKorn/Ferry International.
NO TNK-BP 2.0
L1 Energy will be based in London and will be part of a newinvestment vehicle being set up by Alfa Group that is calledLetterOne Group.
This holding company, managed by TNK-BP's former chieffinancial officer Jonathan Muir, will also include the group'stelecoms interests and funds raised from the TNK-BP sale.
The energy fund will make five or six investments over thecoming years, with a global focus that includes Russia, saidPolovets. Deals would either be full takeovers or acquisitionsof major strategic stakes that allow significant influence.
"We are not planning to spend $20 billion on oneacquisition," said Polovets, who was previously CEO of the AARshareholder consortium that owned half of TNK-BP. "This is notabout creating TNK-BP 2.0."
Fridman, Russia's second-richest man, worth an estimated$16.5 billion according to Forbes magazine, and Khan, with afortune of $10.5 billion, have moved more quickly than theirformer AAR partners, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik, to puttheir TNK-BP windfall to work.
L1 Energy will act as an active financial investor, but notas an operator, reverting to Alfa's roots in the 1990s whenFridman and his partners built a business empire that also spansmobile telecoms, banking and retail.
With the disposal of its Russian oil business and push intoemerging markets by its main telecoms play, New York-listedVimpelcom, Alfa's portfolio has taken on an increasinglyinternational flavour.
Rosneft, meanwhile, is dragging its feet after saying itwould dispose of non-core assets in Russia to reduce its debtsand refocus on developing new reserves of offshore oil and gas,and of hard-to-recover 'tight' oil in Siberia.
L1 Energy has not held any talks with Rosneft on possibleasset disposals, said Polovets, who will continue to be based inNew York.
BP (BP.)
