Adebayo Ogunlesi, 56, acquires London Gatwick Airport

A Nigerian, Adebayo Ogunlesi, has acquired the London Gatwick Airport as the new owner. The Gatwick deal is a £1.455 billion agreement with BAA Airports Limited.

Ogunlesi, 56, is the chairman and managing partner, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an independent investment fund based in New York City with worldwide stake in infrastructure assets.

According to the report, Ogunlesi, the son of an 86-year old professor of medicine has presided over a great number of sweet deals that made him the envy of his peers abroad even if his forays into the brisk world multi-billion dollars deals are barely talked about in his home country.

GIP will be investing through Ivy Bidco Limited, a limited liability company registered in England, established for the purpose of making the acquisition.

Bidco will pay cash consideration of £1,455 million for the entire share capital of Gatwick Airport Limited on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

 Ogunlesi says the acquisition of Gatwick is a landmark deal for GIP and adds another quality asset to his firm's rapidly expanding portfolio.

He said, "we see significant scope to apply both our strong operational focus and our knowledge of the airports sector to make Gatwick an airport of choice."

 He began stacking up his big deals profile when he joined the top-shelf New York law firm, Cravath, Swain & Moore. It was at the law firm that he jumped at the chance to advise First Boston (which later acquired Credit Suisse in 1997 to form Credit Suisse First Boston or CSFB) on a hugely lucrative Nigerian gas project.

The success of that deal landed him his first big pay move to First Boston. For First Boston, he worked on project finance, brokering deals in which lenders finance assets like oil refineries and mines and are repaid with revenues generated by those enterprises.

Based in New York City and traveling to emerging markets, he built CSFB's project-finance business into the world's best, in part by encouraging corporations and governments to tap public debt markets in addition to commercial lenders.

His teacher while at King's College, Lagos, J. Namme, said that Bayo, as he is fondly called, loves getting things done. Perhaps, the London Gatwick Airport acquisition best underscores his desire to get things done and in the big way too. The Gatwick deal illustrates his global influence in infrastructure assets deals.

  Ogunlesi has lived in New York for 20 years and is active in volunteer work. But he also cultivates his ties to Africa. He informally advises the Nigerian government on privatisation. And last summer Manute Bol, former NBA center, visited Ogunlesi in his Park Avenue office, seeking donations for a charitable foundation in former basketball star Manute Bol's homeland, Sudan.

Ogunlesi walked Bol around the hallways, introducing him to junior staff. It was just another day in the Bayosphere.

 Prior to his current role, he was executive vice chairman and chief client officer of Credit Suisse, based in New York. He previously served as a member of Credit Suisse's Executive Board and Management Council and chaired the Chairman's Board. Previously, he was the Global Head of Investment Banking at Credit Suisse. Since joining Credit Suisse in 1983, Ogunlesi has advised clients on strategic transactions and financings in a broad range of industries and has worked on transactions in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Ogunlesi attended the prestigious King's College, Lagos. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and the Yale School.

Ogunlesi, whose father was the first Nigerian-born medical professor, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and then earned law and business degrees from Harvard. In the US, he is known as the Nigerian who clerked for late Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, who they say was unable to pronounce his name and quickly dubbed him Obeedoogee. Colleagues and friends call him Bayo.

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Why fuel scarcity persists

FORMER Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr Chris Ogienwonyi has attributed the persistent fuel scarcity in the nation to the alleged failure of the Federal Government to employ capable hands to man the oil industry.

According to him, "when I was there as number two man in the NNPC, fuel products were everywhere in this country. When I left last year, up to April last year, there was fuel everywhere. I think we should ask Rilwanu Lukman who became Minister and wanted to make NNPC better, why the persistent crisis.

"Nigerians are the better judge. If you compare last year and this year, you will see the difference. I tell you one thing, the issue of leadership comes in. If you put round pegs in round holes, things will move. But if it is the opposite, you will get what we are getting today" he stated.

Ogienwonyi stated this in an interview with Vanguard in Benin City , shortly after he formally joined the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in his ward in Abudu, Orhionmwon Local Government Council of the state. Vanguard learnt that the former NNPC Director will soon declare his intension for the 2012 governorship race in Edo state.

On how the people of the state would vote in 2012 despite the efforts being made by Governor Adams Oshiomhole to revamp the decayed infrastructures in the state, Dr Ogienwonyi asserted, "The next dispensation will be issues of personalities.

If you check round now really, people do not vote for parties because they all have similar ideologies and the manifestoes are basically the same thing.

"But what is going to make the difference is the calibre of people. The next dispensation will be people oriented. You will see wonders in 2012. People are going to vote on personalities. In the sense that when you are really in the private or public sector, what did you do?

Who are you, what is your pedigree? It is not going to be time for mediocres. Mediocrity is out and people will vote accordingly, not PDP or AC," he stated.

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Chinese firm buys Nitel for $2.5 Billion

New Generation Telecommunications Limited, a consortium led by China's second largest telecoms firm China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd was yesterday declared the preferred bidder of the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) after it bided $2.5 billion (N373 billion) during the second round of the bid opening in Abuja.

In the first round, the firm had bided $333 million (N50 billion), but drastically upped it in the second round. Apart from China Unicom, New Generation Consortium is made up of an indigenous telecoms firm, GiCell Wireless Limited, as well as Minerva Group based in the United Arab Emirates.

The bid was for 75% of the old state telephone monopoly, which has however been left moribund for many years since the coming of mobile phone companies into Nigeria in 2001. New Generation's bid also came with a bank draft of 30% of the bid price. The acquisition does not include NITEL's debt obligations, estimated to be in billions of naira. Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which organized the bid, Dr Christopher Anyanwu, announced federal government's commitment to pay the debts from the transaction's proceeds.

The nearest bid to the preferred bidder's was $956 million (N142.4 billion) by Omen International Limited (BVI), which earned for it the position of reserve bidder. The result was announced by the acting chairman of the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation, Prof. Taiwo Osupitan.

The bid opening, which was broadcast live by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), featured five companies after Globacom was declared disqualified for not following the rules specified by BPE.

Following the advice of the Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC), BPE had announced at a pre-sale conference of NITEL held last month that all existing telecom operators in Nigeria with GSM license wouldn't be allowed to buy M-TEL alongside NITEL, as that would cripple competition in the industry. Glo didn't adhere to this rule, the NCP ruled.

The transaction is now awaiting final approval of the NCP, which is chaired by the Vice President.

An elated team leader of the New Generation Telecoms Consortium, Usman Abubakar Gumi, said Nigerians should prepare for a new dawn in the Nigeria telecoms industry. He said his technical partner Unicom China has an estimated 250 million subscriber base with over 500,000 base stations. He said NITEL's 600 base stations is mere child's play compared to Unicom China's. He said, "We are committed and are going to pay within the stipulated time set aside by the BPE. Our bid was not hypothetical but real. We know NITEL is worth more than that."

Telecom giant MTN Nigeria had bided $25 million (N4billion) for SAT-3. It refused to alter the bid in the second round, which made it to eventually lose out to the bid by New Gen Consortium for the whole of NITEL and its components. Other bidders were Brymedia Consortium ($551million) and AFZI/Spectrum Consortium ($376 million).

This effort marks the fifth time the federal government is trying to sell NITEL. After a botched sale under controversial circumstances during the Obasanjo administration, NITEL was sold to Transcorp Plc for $500million (N63 billion) with a commitment to the federal government to turn its fortunes around within a year or face revocation. NITEL's fortunes however after Transcorp's takeover.

Following the non performance of Transcorp after one year, the federal government invoked the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SSPA), calling on the company to step down as core investor for a new one to be selected. The 51% shares to be given to the new core investor would be contributed by the federal government and Transcorp. This took place in December, 2007.

n July of 2008, the BPE, with the approval of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) appointed BNP Paribas to provide advisory services towards the search for a new core investor. According to the BPE, the transaction was to be completed in February, 2009. But that was not to happen. A consortium of banks including UBA, Union bank, Intercontinental and Wema Bank, among others, had claimed ownership of NITEL upon hearing of plans to sell it to out to a new owner. The group said Transcorp borrowed about N75 billion from it to finance the NITEL purchase, which was yet to be paid back. The federal government last year paid back the loan after a final revocation of Transcorp's holding.

The staff of NITEL and MTEL are currently owed salaries of over 20 months but the BPE boss promised they would be paid from the proceeds.

The journey to privatise NITEL has been a long and arduous one. It started in 2000. It was stopped in 2002 when IILL, the core investor failed to pay the $1.317 billion it offered. In 2003, Pentascope was appointed by government to run a three year contract to prepare the sleeping giant for sale but this failed following alleged embezzlement and incompetence. In 2006, Orascom of Egypt offered $256.53 million but this was rejected by the federal government on the grounds that it was far below NITEL's market value, before the coming of Transcorp on November 14, 2006.

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Super Eagles World Cup camp opens May 15

Super Eagles 2010 FIFA World Cup training camp is to flag off on May 15 at the Richards Bay in South Africa although the Hampshire Hotel in Durban will be the team's base for the duration of their first round games.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) delegation led by president Sani Lulu Abdullahi, who was in South Africa at the weekend inspecting the venues and finally picked the Hampshire, a new, 107-room hotel which does not open its doors until the end of February. The squad will leave for Durban on June 6, six days before the Super Eagles play Argentina in their first game of the Mundial.

Also on the inspection trip were executive committee member Taiwo Ogunjobi, general secretary Bolaji Ojo-Oba, head of marketing Adama Idriss and media officer Idah Peterside.

The Nigerian team appears to have fallen in love with Durban. The Super Eagles camped in Durban to prepare for the 27th African Cup of Nations in Angola where the two-time cup winners ended up with the bronze that has now truncated Coach Shaibu Amodu's dream of leading the team to the World Cup.

Meanwhile, the NFF has restated that their arrangements for the Super Eagles to play Paraguay in an international friendly on March 3 are still on course, despite reports that the South Americans will be playing Ghana on the same date.

NFF Secretary General Bolaji Ojo-Oba said yesterday that the Glass House is aware of the reports linking Paraguay with Ghana, but said they had received reassurances from the Paraguayans that their arrangements with Nigeria were still in place.

"We are aware of the rumours that they want to play Ghana. we contacted them as soon as we saw it, and they assured us that that was not true," Ojo-Oba told kickoff.com Sunday night. "We will definitely play Paraguay on March 3 in London."

"They are sending the contract over to us on Monday. We will look at it, and if all goes as agreed, we will sign it and return it to them."

A venue is yet to be picked for the game, according to Ojo-Oba, who says the Paraguayans are handling those arrangements.

"They are the ones taking care of that part of the arrangements and speaking with the English FA."

Ojo-Oba's position appears to be given credence by the international fixture list on the FIFA website. A week ago, Paraguay versus Ghana was listed as one of the friendly games for March 3, but has now been taken off the calendar.

Nigeria have been drawn with Argentina, Greece and South Korea for the World Cup in June.

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