Russian businessman German Khan: biography, personal life, fortune

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Herman Khan is a major domestic entrepreneur, a billionaire. Currently, he is one of the largest shareholders of Alfa Group and the investment company L1 Energy. At various times, he held senior positions in Slavneft, TNK-BP and a number of other influential and financially profitable enterprises. According to the latest data, his fortune is estimated at about ten billion dollars. Thus, he is at the bottom of the top ten richest people in the country.

Childhood and youth

Herman Hohn was born in 1961 in Kyiv. He was the second child in a we althy family of a prominent professor, a metallurgical scientist. It is interesting that the mother of the hero of our article, despite the fact that she was completely financially secure, worked all her life at school as an ordinary teacher. Even their maternal grandmother, who lived with them, contributed tofamily budget, earning a little by tailoring.

Therefore, from early childhood, Herman Khan understood that it was necessary to work hard in order to achieve well-being in life. However, this did not affect his performance in school. As he himself admits, he studied poorly, and went to classes only to see his friends. He spent all his free time in the yard company, and not for textbooks.

Thoughts of emigration

When Herman Khan was finishing school, his family actively discussed the possibility of emigrating from the country. The only exception was the head of the family, who in this case would have lost a highly paid position and his status.

To leave Herman himself, there was not enough worthy profession that could feed him anywhere. At the family council, many options were discussed. Herman Khan is Jewish by nationality, therefore, such standard occupations for representatives of this people as a dentist or a jeweler were also considered. But the prospect of making dentures did not appeal to him, and the young man did not know how to draw, so he had to forget about the career of a jeweler. As a result, the choice settled on the highly paid profession of a toolmaker at that time.

Early career

The first place of work, where German Borisovich Khan got a job, was the experimental equipment plant in Kyiv. There the hero of our article entered as a student of a toolmaker right after school. The shop had a friendly and benevolent team, more than half of the employeeswere Jews. So Herman felt comfortable, quickly moving up the career ladder. A few months later he was given a second category.

At the same time, his parents did not give up hope that he would still receive an education.

Education

In 1979, a young man was persuaded to enter an industrial-pedagogical college. Three years later, he graduated with honors, and after that he became a student at the Institute of Steel and Alloys in Moscow without any problems. German Borisovich Khan himself now recalls that the first course was especially difficult for him. However, he worked hard and in the winter session received only one B, all other marks were "excellent". By this, he was rehabilitated before his parents for his poor performance at school.

At the institute, Herman not only studied well, but was engaged in social work, for example, he was the headman in his group. The hero of our article earned his first money in his third year, when he began to sell jewelry, garments and shoes.

Having graduated from high school with a high GPA of 4.7, Herman was seriously counting on a place at one of the country's prestigious defense enterprises. However, his nationality interfered with this. In this situation, dad helped out, who helped him get a job at one of the factories in Kyiv. He always dreamed that his son would work in metallurgy and continue his work.

But the young engineer was not interested in the monthly salary, which was already five times lower than his earnings as an entrepreneur.

Khan's business

BBiography of Herman Khan An important event that dramatically changed his life occurred in 1989. On Arkhipov Street, not far from the synagogue, he met Mikhail Fridman, with whom they had once studied together, but had never been close. This time, both of them were sincerely happy about the chance meeting, went to a cafe, and at the end of the evening exchanged phone numbers.

The call from Friedman came several months later. He offered the hero of our article to work for him. Thus began the path of Herman in big business. Initially, he received the position of head of the wholesale trade department, and already in 1996 he was president of the Alfa-Eco company. In the future, it became the basis for the more well-known Alfa Group today. German Khan was also a member of the management team of such Friedman structures as Saratovneftegaz, SIDANKO, Orenburgneft, ONAKO, Alfa-Bank.

In 1998, he got the position of deputy chairman of the board of TNK, and four years later he ended up in the leadership of Slavneft. When the company called TNK-BP was established, Khan became its chief executive.

By 2010, Russian entrepreneur Herman Khan made headlines after buying a $91 million mansion in Eaton Square in London.

Work in "Alfa Group"

The founder of Alfa Group is Friedman, but Khan is currently one of his key business partners, one ofthe largest shareholders of the entire holding.

"Alfa Group" positions itself as a consortium, which, in fact, is the country's largest private investment and financial fund. Interestingly, in addition to Fridman and Khan, a controlling stake is owned by Alexei Kuzmichev. For three, they own more than 77 percent of the company's shares. They are located in the British Virgin Islands, while none of the business partners personally owns a controlling or blocking stake, so they have to make all decisions together.

Recently it became known that the parent structure of the consortium was a company registered in Gibr altar. It is connected with Alfa Group through a chain of offshore companies.

List of assets

Among the main assets of Alfa Group is the investment company A1, which is considered one of the oldest in the holding, since it was founded in 1989. Interestingly, it is considered an independent division, which has more than thirty major projects implemented on the territory of Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union. In particular, this company owns the car dealer Nezavisimost, the large cinema chains Formula Kino and Kronverk Cinema, the IT company Sistematika, the BelMarket supermarket chain, which is currently considered the largest in Belarus.

Also, a member of the Alfa Group consortium, X5 Retail Group, which, in turn, owns the chainsupermarkets "Pyaterochka", "Karusel" and "Perekrestok", the largest cellular operator in Turkey Turkcell, a Swiss investment fund, the Rosvodokanal group, which is the largest private operator of centralized water disposal and water supply systems in the country, the largest producer of mineral water in Eastern Europe "Borjomi" ", the Alfa Capital management company, the Russian Technologies venture fund, the Alfa He alth Center network of federal multidisciplinary clinics and medical centers, the telecommunications company Altimo.

The fortune of a businessman

Currently, Khan is considered the second shareholder of Alfa Group after Fridman. He himself has repeatedly noted and recognized the superiority of his partner.

He is considered one of the richest modern domestic entrepreneurs. In 2013, he headed the investment company L1 Energy. Herman Khan, as its head, is responsible for attracting investments and improving the efficiency of the entire business.

Among his projects, which he brought to a successful conclusion, is the acquisition of the Dea oil and gas company from Germany, which experts estimate at more than five billion dollars.

Herman Khan's fortune is estimated at about ten billion dollars. Such data are provided by the authoritative American economic magazine Forbes. It currently ranks 11th in Russia and 133rd in the world.

Family

A lot is known about Herman Khan's personal life. He is currently married and has four children with his wife. His chosen name is Angelica, she is ten years younger than the hero of our article. They met in 1991, when the oligarch was flying on a plane of the private company Transaero to Israel. The girl worked as a flight attendant, she immediately attracted the attention of Herman. They got married two years later and still live together.

In 1995 they had a daughter, Eva, and six years later, Eleanor. The couple also have two sons, who were born in 2005 and 2012. The eldest daughter Hana received her higher education at the Courtauld Institute of Arts, located in the capital of Great Britain. She did an internship at the Sotheby's auction house. After that, she improved her skills at the prestigious publishing house Tatler, as well as the domestic version of the magazine, the Tolerance Center and the Jewish Museum.

Eleanor was also educated in the UK. She studied at one of the prestigious private schools, it is known that she enjoys drawing in her free time.

Khan himself has repeatedly admitted that he does not have enough time to raise his children, so his wife mainly takes care of them. Herman himself tries as far as possible to take part in this process, focus on the main things and have a positive attitude towards life around him. At a minimum, he always spends his holidays with his family and closest people.

Hobbies and passions

It is known that from his youth the hero of our articleis fond of boxing, also in the field of his interests extreme tourism and martial arts. Khan prefers to relax in the bathhouse with friends, among whom are many influential oligarchs - Peter Aven, Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman. They also go hunting together. Khan himself is one of the founders of the Medved company, which provides services to those who wish to hunt in the Arkhangelsk region.

In addition, he competed in the prestigious off-road races known as the Camel Trophy for eight years. German himself admits that it was a great opportunity to test himself for strength, to find out the capabilities of his body.

Acquaintances who surround the oligarch claim that he gives the impression of a reliable and intelligent partner who is able to independently make any difficult decisions, think quickly, and endure stressful situations.

In recent years

Among the projects that Khan has been working on lately is the collaboration with the taxi company Uber, which already operates in 68 countries. It is known that the oligarch's investment group invested about $200 million in this project, hoping to recoup the funds spent as soon as possible.

In addition, the L1 He alt division, which is directly managed by Khan himself, has opened an office in the United States. After that, it was publicly announced that Friedman's structures were ready to invest in the American he althcare industry for aboutthree billion dollars.