letterone's l1 energy was founded in 2013 with lord browne, former ceo of bp, james hackett of anadarko petroleum and andrew gould of bg joining l1 energy advisory board. the 2014 downturn in the oil industry and the falling ruble value in russia led to khan losing about 22% of his estimated value in 2014, or about $2.5 billion in one year. by that point, his overall value was estimated at £6.3 billion. the market afterwards improved, and alfa group's assets equaled around $40 billion by march 2015. on 2 march 2015 lord browne was appointed chairman of l1 energy. l1 energy officially launched as a company in may 2015 in the neue galerie new york. the company outlined an ambition to acquire and then develop a portfolio of two or three regionally focused platforms around the world. on 7 may 2015 lord davies was appointed deputy non-executive chairman of letterone, and a week later, former swedish foreign minister carl bildt was appointed as the board's advisor.