Adebayo Ogunlesi is a Nigerian lawyer and investment banker. He is the founder and chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, GIP, the world’s largest infrastructure-focused private equity firm, with $74 billion worth of assets under management. There are over 70 companies in GIP’s equity portfolio that includes several power plants, sea ports and airports, among which are Gatwick and Edinburgh Airports. The companies have a combined annual revenue of $45 billion and employ approximately 62,000 people.
Born in 1953 in Sagamu, Nigeria, Ogunlesi attended King’s College in Lagos. He received a bachelor’s with first class honors in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University in England. In 1979, he received J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, which he pursued simultaneously. During his time at Harvard, he was on the Harvard Law Review.
Following his MBA completion, Ogunlesi worked as a law clerk with Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court from 1980 to 1981. Upon his resignation, he went on to work as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a law firm in New York City. The same firm he worked as a summer associate during his MBA.
Ogunlesi joined First Boston Investment Bank as an advisor for a Nigerian gas project in 1983. While at First Boston, he worked in the Project Finance Group, where he gave sound financial advice to clients on transactions. He has worked on the transactions of North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Ogunlesi was made the Head of the Global Energy Group renamed, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB). He held this position from 1997 to 2002. Following this was his appointment as the Global Head of CSFB’s Investment Banking Division.
In the same 2002, he became a member of the Credit Suisse Executive Board and Management Committee. Ultimately, from 2004 to 2006, Ogunlesi was the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Client Officer of CSFB.
While working at Credit Suisse First Boston, he also dubbed as a lecturer at Harvard Law School and Yale School of Management. He taught a course on transnational investment projects in emerging countries.
Ogunlesi was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs in October 2012, and was named Lead Director of the company in 2014.
In 2006, Ogunlesi started a private equity firm, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), with Credit Suisse and General Electric being the first investors in GIP.
GIP is an independent infrastructure fund manager that harnesses deep industry expertise with industrial best practice and operational management.
The company is an infrastructure investment fund that makes both equity and selected debt investments. It has investments in high-quality infrastructure assets in the energy, transport, water and waste sectors.
The company manages over $51 billion for its investors with portfolio of combined annual revenue greater than $46 billion. The company’s employee base is about 52,000.
Ogunlesi is a recipient of The International Center in New York’s Award of Excellence.
