How Global Infrastructure Partners boss sealed $18b BlackRock deal

Adebayo Ogunlesi, the Global Infrastructure Partners co-founder, is finally stepping into the limelight with a “transformational” tie-up.

Antoine Gara and Brooke Masters

Jan 15, 2024 – 3.17pm

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Adebayo Ogunlesi, co-founder of Global Infrastructure Partners, credits his wife Amelia for a career switch that led on Friday (Saturday AEDT) to a $US12.5 billion ($18.7 billion) deal and a leadership position at BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager.

In 2005, Ogunlesi, then a top banker at Credit Suisse, was summoned to Omaha, Nebraska, by the energy arm of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to study a large takeover. It was the kind of call most financiers dream of, but Ogunlesi complained to his wife: “I really don’t want to go.”

Financial Times