₦airaland Forum

Ogunlesi targets growth of $30 billion asset exposure in Africa’s largest economy

Solomon Ekanem
14 May 2026

Nigerian billionaire Adebayo Ogunlesi is positioning South Africa as a key destination for large-scale infrastructure capital, backing a strategy that could significantly expand a roughly $30 billion asset footprint in the country over the next five years.

⚫️Adebayo Ogunlesi is increasing infrastructure investments in South Africa, aiming to substantially grow a $30 billion asset base over the next five years.

⚫️Ogunlesi highlighted significant opportunities in energy, transport, and logistics if policy consistency and implementation improve.

⚫️He emphasized that investor confidence relies on regulatory clarity and efficient infrastructure delivery to attract more global capital.

⚫️President Cyril Ramaphosa noted major recent investment commitments, including $500 million from BlackRock and a record $54 billion in new pledges.

Nigerian billionaire Adebayo Ogunlesi has signalled a deeper push into South Africa’s infrastructure space, saying the country’s long-standing infrastructure challenges present a significant opportunity for long-term private investment, provided reforms remain consistent and implementation improves.

Ogunlesi said BlackRock currently oversees around R500 billion in South Africa-linked assets under management, equivalent to roughly $28–$30 billion depending on exchange rates, and expects this exposure to increase significantly over the next five years as investment conditions improve.

Ogunlesi made the remarks in Cape Town during the BlackRock South Africa Infrastructure Investment Summit, where he joined South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and global investors and policymakers to discuss financing solutions for large-scale infrastructure development in the country.

Ogunlesi, the chairman and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners, now part of BlackRock, said South Africa remains underdeveloped in critical infrastructure sectors that are essential for sustained economic growth, including energy, transport and logistics.

“We think that infrastructure in South Africa and indeed on the African continent as a whole is at an inflection point. The simple fact is that South Africa, like many other countries, has underinvested in infrastructure that underpins its strength and vitality,” Ogunlesi said.

He added that investor confidence is closely tied to policy certainty and efficient execution, noting that infrastructure delivery must improve if the country is to attract larger pools of global capital.

President Ramaphosa also referenced earlier investment momentum, noting a $500 million commitment made by BlackRock to the African Infrastructure Fund III, which targets financing for energy systems, logistics corridors and transport infrastructure across the continent.

He said the pledge, announced earlier in the year ahead of the summit, reflects growing confidence in Africa’s infrastructure pipeline and the increasing role of private capital in funding large-scale development projects.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing approximately $14 to $15 trillion in assets under management, and serving institutional, intermediary, and individual investors.

Energy and logistics seen as key bottlenecks

Ogunlesi highlighted electricity supply constraints, ageing transport infrastructure and inefficiencies in ports and rail systems as major barriers to competitiveness. According to him, addressing these challenges could unlock productivity gains across multiple sectors of the economy.

“In the 21st century there simply is no excuse for unreliable electricity supply. Reliable and affordable energy is a foundation requirement for growth,” he said.

Ogunlesi also pointed to emerging demand for digital infrastructure, including data centres and power capacity, driven by the global rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

He said South Africa is competing directly with developed and emerging markets for infrastructure capital, making regulatory clarity and predictable investment frameworks increasingly important.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa has attracted about R1.5 trillion in investment commitments over the first five years of its investment drive, launched in 2018, spanning sectors including energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, property, mining and advanced manufacturing.

He added that the country recently secured a record $54 billion (around R890 billion) in pledges at the 6th South Africa Investment Conference held last month.

Ramaphosa said this momentum has led government to set a new target of R3 trillion (about $180 billion) in investments over the next five years.

At the same time, the broader investment drive comes as South Africa continues to grapple with periodic xenophobic tensions and public frustration over unemployment and service delivery, factors that some analysts say can affect investor sentiment.

Despite these challenges, Ramaphosa used the summit to position South Africa as a key gateway for continental investment and encouraged deeper private sector participation in infrastructure development.

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/us-based-nigerian-billionaire-ogunlesi-targets-growth-of-dollar30-billion-asset/4n1gb9e

Photos: Adebayo Ogunlesi and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Reforms are slowly producing what we asked for. i remember when he did something similar in Nigeria last year.
i just shake my head that people who don't think but reduce it all to tribe, politics, Tinubu and Obi.
Some confab people asked for change of national anthem, removal of subsidies, etc. Government implemented them, you start to shout and mock.
Imagine government reforming our electoral system and people started saying yesterday that the reforms were for Obi, and that APC is now suffering for it. Chai and Kai my people. Who do una this strong thing?

https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria-now-an-exciting-place-to-invest-gip-ceo-ogunlesi/?utm_

The father of their father. Doing wonders across the globe !

Him money him choice. Nigerians Rest

Why not Nigeria? Why south Africa?

Even with all what’s happening over there ? We never still learn sha. No wahala !

His money, his choice, we need investment too. Steel, tyres and Glass🤷🏿

The xenophobic mob won't see this. They think their laziness-inspired statuses are direct results of the industry of Nigerian immigrants.

Of all countries in the world why make such huge investment in South Africa?

Previous threads:

President Tinubu Recieves Bayo Ogunlesi And Hakeem Belo-Osagie In Lagos
https://www.nairaland.com/8529503/president-tinubu-recieves-bayo-ogunlesi

Aliko Dangote Tours East Africa
https://www.nairaland.com/8673442/aliko-dangote-tours-east-africa

hope south African will not say he's stealing there investments..

It's quite possible and I trust the man expertise on this however Nigerians should know that the so called xenophobic tendencies of some SA is highly selected and targeted at those at the lower rung of the society, most of the dry heads xenophobic foot soldiers will be smart enough to pick their battle carefully.

The bitter Makoko residents will lose sleep over this . These are the kind of business men we welcome in South Africa not poor petty traders forming investor whilst they don't even qualify for a business certificate .

Welcome Mr Ogunlesi

jojothaiv:
It's quite possible and I trust the man expertise on this however Nigerians should know that the so called xenophobic tendencies of some SA is highly selected and targeted at those at the lower rung of the society, most of the dry heads xenophobic foot soldiers will be smart enough to pick their battle carefully.

Because govt of the day indirectly supporting them, infact, Ramaphosa used it to campaign before his election, claiming foreigners stealing their job and that he won't accept that wen he becomes president.

If leading presidential contestants, started talking bad about MTN and other SA businesses today, don't be surprised you will just wake up one day and see citizens targeting MTN and other SA business.
That's powerful tools, political elites using to raise people emotions in other to achieve their political goals.

Adebayo Ogunlesi

Adebayo "Bayo" O. Ogunlesi CON (born 20 December 1953) is a Nigerian lawyer and investment banker. He is currently chairman and managing partner at the private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). Ogunlesi was the former head of global investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston before being promoted to chief client officer and executive vice chairman.

Early life and education

Ogunlesi comes from Makun, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. He is the son of Theophilus O. Ogunlesi, the first Nigerian professor of medicine at University of Ibadan. His family is of Yoruba origin.

Ogunlesi went to King's College, Lagos, a secondary school in Lagos, Nigeria. He received a B.A. with first class honors in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University in England. In 1979, Ogunlesi received a JD–MBA from Harvard Law School and later Harvard Business School. During his time at Harvard, he was on the Harvard Law Review.

Career

From 1980 to 1981, Ogunlesi served as a law clerk to associate justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. Ogunlesi was an attorney in the corporate practice group of the New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he had been a summer associate while studying for his M.B.A.

In 1983, Ogunlesi joined the investment bank First Boston as an advisor on a Nigerian gas project. At First Boston, he worked in the Project Finance Group, advising clients on transactions and financings and has worked on transactions in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. From 1997 to 2002, he was the Head of the Global Energy Group of the by then renamed Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB). In 2002, Ogunlesi was appointed Global Head of CSFB's Investment Banking Division. Also in 2002, he served as a member of Credit Suisse's Executive Board and Management Committee. From 2004 to 2006, Ogunlesi was Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Client Officer of CSFB.

In July 2006, Ogunlesi started the private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a joint venture whose initial investors included Credit Suisse and General Electric. He currently serves as chairman and managing partner.

In 2006, GIP bought London City Airport. In 2009, GIP acquired a majority stake in London Gatwick Airport in a deal worth £1.455 billion. The Nigerian press has given him the nickname, "The Man Who Bought Gatwick Airport." GIP also owns Edinburgh Airport, which they bought in 2012, and Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, which they bought in February 2018.

In January 2024, BlackRock agreed to buy Global Infrastructure Partners for about $12.5 billion. BlackRock will pay $3 billion in cash and 12 million of its own shares as part of the deal to buy GIP. The 400 people directly employed by GIP will receive some of the stock, and five of the six founding partners, including chief executive Ogunlesi, will join BlackRock as part of the deal.

Additional work

Ogunlesi is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. While working at Credit Suisse First Boston, he was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and the Yale School of Management, where he taught a course on transnational investment projects in emerging countries.

In October 2012, he was appointed to the board of directors at Goldman Sachs. On 24 July 2014, he was named lead director.

In December 2016, it was announced that Ogunlesi, among other business leaders, would be part of Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, which was disbanded on 16 August 2017.

In January 2025, Ogunlesi joined the board of directors of OpenAI.

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. As of 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth at US$2.5 billion.

Awards and honors

Recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. Ogunlesi was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2019.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adebayo_Ogunlesi

Bayo Ogunlesi

Fiscus105:
Because govt of the day indirectly supporting them, intact, Ramaphosa used it to campaign before his election, claiming foreigners stealing their job and that he won't accept that wen he becomes president.

If it's true that's quite shameful of them, I don't know why some citizens can't read the room any longer, don't they know that they are pawns and nothing more in the hand of the so called political leaders.....

Fiscus105:
Because govt of the day indirectly supporting them, intact, Ramaphosa used it to campaign before his election, claiming foreigners stealing their job and that he won't accept that wen he becomes president.

Can you show us where Ramaphosa said that ?

And if you lots feel that way,why continue residing here and bringing more of your families in such a country?🤔🤭

NIGERIAJAGAJAGA:
Why not Nigeria? Why south Africa?

Because of bokoboko
You didn't hear that the triumph army eliminated the number 2 ISIP terror in the world under the instruction, guidance and command of the Nigerian Army

You check am na,
How you expect make person invest for a place where World no.2 ISIP Terror calls home?

How?

naptu2:
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/us-based-nigerian-billionaire-ogunlesi-targets-growth-of-dollar30-billion-asset/4n1gb9e

Photos: Adebayo Ogunlesi and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.

did ogunlesi aware SA are currently killing Nigerians and other Africans in Xenophobic attacks?

Nigerians never learn.
They just never learn.

ALLNIGERIANSMAD:
did ogunlesi aware SA are currently killing Nigerians and other Africans in Xenophobic attacks?

LMAO, a man of that caliber doesn't listen to propaganda but facts. That sort of propaganda, half-truths and blatant lies are meant for the poor peasants not his type. His money ,his research and ultimately his choice🫡

Why not Nigeria?

30b is a big capital for South Africa

Lost for words , while the poor fool around

ALLNIGERIANSMAD:
did ogunlesi aware SA are currently killing Nigerians and other Africans in Xenophobic attacks?

Rich don't think that way , it's even in their gains

This should tell so much of how blessed the Yorubas are..

dibunotion:
Him money him choice. Nigerians Rest

It’s not his money. It’s investors’ money!

Wotowotoman:
It’s not his money. It’s investors’ money!

So those investors are not behind his choice?

Nwaikpe:
Nigerians never learn.
They just never learn.

Wait a minute is it not same apartheid that Black Southies suffered under white settler imperialists before they were liberated, that they are now doing to other fellow Africans branding it Xenophobia?

Wonders! they really learnt well from the settler colonialists/imperialists

Image123:
Reforms are slowly producing what we asked for. i remember when he did something similar in Nigeria last year.
i just shake my head that people who don't think but reduce it all to tribe, politics, Tinubu and Obi.
Some confab people asked for change of national anthem, removal of subsidies, etc. Government implemented them, you start to shout and mock.
Imagine government reforming our electoral system and people started saying yesterday that the reforms were for Obi, and that APC is now suffering for it. Chai and Kai my people. Who do una this strong thing?

https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria-now-an-exciting-place-to-invest-gip-ceo-ogunlesi/?utm_

When Tinubu said Yorubalokan, was he reducing government to unevolved tribalistic mindset or not?

When PDP tried to remove subsidy in 2012, Tinubu and APC leaders looters shouted and mocked the policy, organising #OccupyNigeria with Buhari's 2011 running mate as the arrowhead, not so?

If Tinubu's reforms in Lagos have yielded 100 times budget growth in 27 years without water supply and less than 5% schools owned by government, why won't he use the same lootocracy modus operandi for Nigeria

Stealing money that should employ well paid workers to provide government services and utilities, to bribe politicians into his party for a stranglehold on the country.

"I know of States that have received over 500 billion Naira from the Federal Government as palliative, but I have never received anything.

I think the reason I don't get it is because I'm not in APC.

-Dauda Lawal, Zamfara State Governor pic.twitter.com/QvfR8olibA

— Arewa Source (@Arewa_Source) February 17, 2026

anonimi:
The eyesore on Bourdillon Road
2nd January 2025

Beyond his neighbours, there is something about the sight of people hanging around a president’s residence that does not speak well of his leadership capabilities. Maybe no one has nudged him to see it, but the impression that spectacle on Bourdillon Road generates is that Tinubu enjoys the sight of suffering humans and thrives in—and through— their poverty.

If all these years, impoverished people hang around you and you remain comfortable enough to keep them just so they can be handed tokens of your large heart, then it means you have a pro-poverty mindset. Such a frame of mind is oriented toward cultivating poverty rather than stimulating abundance.

That is why he could unproblematically relate the story of his “friend” who went from using five Rolls Royce to a far-less valued car and not consider the import of the nonsense he was saying. That spurious account was an indication that this is a man for whom poverty—of others, not himself—is an ideal.

https://punchng.com/the-eyesore-on-bourdillon-road/

The ma. Who own airport in uk

VeeVeeMyLuv:
Wait a minute is it not same apartheid that Black Southies suffered under white settler imperialists before they were liberated, that they are now doing to other fellow Africans branding it Xenophobia?

Wonders! they really learnt well from the settler colonialists/imperialists

LMAO. This is funny. How are you suffering apartheid in South Africa when you're not in your own home,are you hostages in SA? Did SA come to fetch you in your lands by force?

If SA is horrible for you,then why not leave ? Why all the drama and grammar?

Lionessza6:
LMAO. This is funny. How are you suffering apartheid in South Africa when you're not in your own home,are you hostages in SA? Did SA come to fetch you in your lands by force?

If SA is horrible for you,then why not leave ? Why all the drama and grammar?

I understand it's fine to protect your beautiful country you guys worked hard to liberate

Actually I 100% support you guys.🙏🏽 Absolutely.
Though the method may not be cool