BlackRock to Acquire Nigerian-Owned Global Infrastructure Partners in $12.5 Billion Mega Deal

Investment giant BlackRock has agreed to acquire Adebayo Ogunlesi’s Global Infrastructure Partners for about $12.5 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced on Friday.

BlackRock’s acquisition of GIP, with assets worth $106 billion under management, would make it the world’s second-largest infrastructure manager after Macquarie and bolster the leadership of its alternative business.

A $1 trillion market today, infrastructure is forecast to be one of the fastest-growing segments of private markets in the years ahead. These include increasing global demand for upgraded digital infrastructure like fiber broadband, cell towers, and data centers; renewed investment in logistical hubs such as airports, railroads, and shipping ports as supply chains are rewired; and a movement toward decarbonization and energy security in many parts of the world. 

Further, large government deficits mean that the mobilization of capital through public-private partnerships will be critical for funding important infrastructure. Finally, as capital has become more scarce in a higher interest rate environment, companies are exploring partnership opportunities for their embedded infrastructure assets to improve their returns on invested capital or to raise capital to reinvest in their core businesses. 

BlackRock has a broad network of global corporate relationships as a long-term investor in both their debt and equity. These relationships will help us lead critical investments in infrastructure to improve outcomes for communities around the globe and generate long-term investment benefits for clients. The combination of GIP with BlackRock’s highly complementary infrastructure offerings creates a comprehensive global infrastructure franchise with differentiated origination and asset management capabilities. 

The over $150 billion combined business will seek to deliver clients market-leading, holistic infrastructure expertise across equity, debt, and solutions at a substantial scale. Marrying the proprietary origination and business improvement capabilities of GIP and BlackRock’s global corporate and sovereign relationships provides a platform for diversified, large-scale sourcing to support deal flow and co-investment opportunities for clients. We believe bringing GIP and BlackRock together will deliver to clients the benefits of broader origination and business improvement capabilities. 

Founded in 2006, world-leading independent infrastructure investor GIP manages over $100 billion in client assets across infrastructure equity and debt, with a focus on energy, transport, water and waste, and digital sectors. GIP’s performance has been driven by proprietary origination, operational improvements, and timely exits. 

They have successfully scaled their global equity flagship series, with the most recent fully invested flagship fund in 2019 surpassing $22 billion. BlackRock’s over $50 billion of infrastructure client AUM is comprised of infrastructure equity, debt, and solutions, and has grown both organically and inorganically since its inception in 2011. Top investment talent at BlackRock lead franchises that include Diversified Infrastructure, Infra Debt, Infra Solutions, Climate Infrastructure and Decarbonization Partners. 

The GIP management team, led by Bayo Ogunlesi and four of its founding partners, will lead the combined infrastructure platform. They will bring with them a talented investment, and operationally focused business improvement teams with a strong track record of building and running high-performing private markets businesses. 

GIP’s founders and teams remain highly committed to clients, and we expect the integration with BlackRock’s broader platform will generate even greater opportunities. Subject to the completion of customary onboarding procedures, BlackRock has also agreed to appoint Bayo Ogunlesi, GIP Founding Partner, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, to the Board at the next regularly scheduled board meeting following the closing of the transaction. 

“Infrastructure is one of the most exciting long-term investment opportunities, as several structural shifts reshape the global economy. We believe the expansion of both physical and digital infrastructure will continue to accelerate, as governments prioritize self-sufficiency and security through increased domestic industrial capacity, energy independence, and onshoring or near-shoring of critical sectors. Policymakers are only just beginning to implement once-in-a-generation financial incentives for new infrastructure technologies and projects,” said Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock Chairman and CEO. 

“I’m delighted for the opportunity to welcome Bayo and the GIP team to BlackRock, and happy to announce our plans to have Bayo join our Board of Directors post-closing. We founded BlackRock 35 years ago based on a unique understanding of investment risk and the factors and forces driving investment returns. GIP’s deep understanding of the factors and forces driving operational efficiency for long-term value creation has made them a global leader in infrastructure investing. Bringing these two firms together will create the infrastructure platform to deliver best-in-class investment opportunities for clients globally, and we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities ahead of us.” 

“I’m excited about the power of this combination and the prospect of working with Larry and his talented team. We share with BlackRock a culture of collaboration, client focus, investment partnership, and commitment to excellence. Investors have adopted private infrastructure investing for its ability to provide stable cashflows, less correlated returns, and a hedge against inflation. Global corporates have turned to private infrastructure as a fast innovator and a more commercially agile owner of infrastructure assets that aren’t core to their commercial businesses. This platform is set to be the preeminent, one-stop infrastructure solutions provider for global corporates and the public sector, mobilizing long-term private capital through long-standing firm relationships,” said Bayo Ogunlesi, GIP Founding Partner, Chairman, and CEO. “We are convinced that together we can create the world’s premier infrastructure investment firm.” 

Meet Adebayo Ogunlesi

Adebayo Ogunlesi is a Nigerian lawyer, investment banker, chairman, and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners. Early in his career, he served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1980-1981). 

He is the son of Theophilus Ogunlesi, Nigeria’s first professor of Medicine. He is an alumnus of Oxford University, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. He also holds an MBA from Havard Business School.

He started Global Infrastructure Partners in 2006, with backing from Credit Suisse and General Electric Co. Before starting GIP, he spent 23 years at Credit Suisse where he rose to the position of Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Client Officer of the Investment Banking Division. Ogunlesi is presently a member of the Board of Directors at Goldman Sachs.

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