All we know about Adebayo Ogunlesi – The Nigerian Entrepreneur Who Recently Sold his Company for $12.5bn
Adebayo Ogunlesi is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading independent infrastructure fund manager making equity and selected debt investments.
GIP’s equity investments are based on infrastructure assets in the energy, transport and water & waste sectors. The company employs approximately 150 investment and operational professionals and has offices in New York, London, Stamford, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore and Hong Kong.
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GIP was recently acquired by BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest money manager for $12.5bn. BlackRock, who currently manages $10trn across all markets, will pay $3 billion in cash and 12 million BlackRock shares (about $9.5bn) to GIP who currently manages more than $100bn in assets.
Following this deal, Ogunlesi will join BlackRock’s board and global executive committee.
Here is all we know about him:
- Ogunlesi hails from Sagamu, Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria.
- His father, Professor Theophilus O. Ogunlesi, was the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine.
- He attended King’s College, Lagos.
- He graduated with a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University. He also completed a JD-MBA from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School in 1979.
- He founded Global Infrastructure Partners – GIP in 2006, which invests globally in infrastructure assets in the energy, transport, water and waste industry sectors.
- GIP bought London City Airport in 2006, acquired a majority stake in London Gatwick Airport in 2009, bought Edinburgh Airport in 2012, and bought Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori in 2018.
- He was appointed by the former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016 to be part of a group of business leaders called “the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum”, to frequently advise him on economic matters.
- Burna Boy sang about him in his song “Wonderful”, which was released in 2020. The song was part of his Grammy-winning album ” Twice as Tall”. “As I dey hustle like Adebayo Ogunlesi (No go talk say me I too lazy).”