Real Name: Adebayo “Bayo” O. Ogunlesi CON
Date of birth: 20 December 1953
Country of Origin: Nigeria
Source of Wealth: Banker, Entrepreneur
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Adebayo “Bayo” O. Ogunlesi CON is a Nigerian lawyer and financial banker who was born on December 20, 1953. He is the chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private equity company, at the moment. Before he was made chief client officer and executive vice chairman, Ogunlesi was in charge of global investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Early Life and Education
Ogunlesi is from Nigeria, in the town of Makun in the state of Ogun. He was born to Theophilus O. Ogunlesi, who was the first Nigerian to teach medicine at the University of Ibadan. His family comes from the Yoruba people.
In Lagos, Nigeria, Ogunlesi went to King’s College, Lagos, a high school. He went to Oxford University in England and got a B.A. with first class honours in economics, politics, and philosophy. Ogunlesi got his JD and MBA from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School in 1979. He was on the Harvard Law Review while he was there.
Career
He worked as a law clerk for Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the US Supreme Court from 1980 to 1981. Ogunlesi worked as an attorney in the business practice group at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a law firm in New York City. He had been a summer associate there while getting his M.B.A.
Because of his work on a Nigerian gas project, Adebayo Ogunlesi joined the trading bank First Boston in 1983. He worked in the Project Finance Group at First Boston and helped clients with deals and loans. He has worked on deals in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, North and South America, and Europe.
He was in charge of the Global Energy Group at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), which had changed its name by that time, from 1997 to 2002. Ogunlesi was made Global Head of CSFB’s Investment Banking Division in 2002. He was also a part of Credit Suisse’s Executive Board and Management Committee in 2002. He was Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Client Officer of CSFB from 2004 to 2006.
In July 2006, Ogunlesi started Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private equity company. Credit Suisse and General Electric were among the first investors in the joint venture. He is the head and managing partner right now.
GIP bought London City Airport in 2006. GIP bought most of London Gatwick Airport in 2009 in a deal worth £1.455 billion.In the Nigerian press, people call him The Man Who Bought Gatwick Airport. GIP also owns Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, which they bought in February 2018, and Edinburgh Airport, which they bought in 2012.
A deal was made in January 2024 for BlackRock to buy Adebayo Ogunlesi’s Global Infrastructure Partners for about $12.5 billion. As part of the deal, BlackRock will buy GIP for $3 billion in cash and 12 million of its own shares. As part of the deal, five of the six original partners, including Adebayo Ogunlesi, the CEO, will join BlackRock. The 400 people who work directly for GIP will also get some stock.
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Other Works
Ogunlesi, is a member of the Georgetown Bar Association. He taught at Harvard Law School and the Yale School of Management and Credit Suisse First Boston. At Harvard Law School, he gave a course on transnational investment projects in emerging countries.
He was put on the board of directors at Goldman Sachs in October 2012. He was made lead director on July 24, 2014.
It was reported in December 2016 that Ogunlesi and other business leaders would be a part of Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum. The forum was broken up on August 16, 2017.
Personal Life
Ogunlesi has been married to British-born optometrist Dr. Amelia Quist-Ogunlesi since 1985. They have two children. In his song “Wonderful,” Burna Boy pays tribute to Adebayo, citing his hard work.
Honours
Winner of the Award of Excellence from The International Centre in New York. In 2019, New African magazine named Ogunlesi one of the Top 100 most important Africans.
Publication
Thanks, Adebayo Ogunlesi (1979). The Approach to Development Based on Basic Human Needs. The Harvard Law School is in Cambridge. With the attention of Professor C. Clyde Ferguson, Jr. Legal Issues with the New World Order of Trade and Investing
BlackRock Acquires Ogunlesi’s Global Infrastructure Partners
This morning, January 12, 2024, it was announced that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, is buying Adebayo Ogunlesi’s Global Infrastructure Partners for $12.5bn. Adebayo Ogunlesi is a Nigerian investment banker who started the company.
A statement made on Friday says that Blackrock will pay Ogunlesi and five other co-founders of Global Infrastructure Partners $3bn in cash and give them 12 million shares in Blackrock. This will make them the second-largest shareholders in the global asset management giant.
Adebayo Ogunlesi Net Worth
The magazine Forbes said that Adebayo Ogunlesi’s net worth was around $1.1 billion. Please keep in mind, though, that his net worth may have changed since then because of things like changes in the market, his assets, and other financial factors.
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