GIP: World Bank President Kim’s next call
... chaired by Nigerian
Aday after World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim’s shock resignation from the bank, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private equity fund that invests in projects in wealthy and developing countries, announced that he will be joining the company as a partner effective from February 1.
“The opportunity to join the private sector was unexpected, but I’ve concluded that this is the path through which I will be able to make the largest impact on major global issues like climate change and the infrastructure deficit in emerging markets,” Kim said in a statement.
Businessday survey of the New York-based firm reveals that it was the leader of a consortium of investors that bought London’s Gatwick airport for £1.5 billion in 2009, and last month the group sold a majority stake in the airport to the French infrastructure company, Vinci, at an equity value of just under £6 billion, just days after the hub was shuttered for several days over sightings of drones.
In 2012, GIP acquired the Edinburgh Airport for £807 million, and since then the firm has made a cross section of investments in other areas of the transport sector as well as the natural resource and power generation areas of the energy sector. These include seaports, freight rail facilities, midstream natural resources and power generation businesses.
Global Infrastructure Partners has investments around the globe. Businessday survey of the list of investments on GIP’S website revealed the PE firm has 29 stated assets it has put in funds. These include London City Airport, located close to London; Great Yarmonth Port company, situated in east coast of England; East India Petroleum Limited, located in India; Channel View, located in Texas area in the US; Port of Brisbane, in Australia, among others.
GIP has also raised funds, and in
May 2008 it completed its GIP I, its first fund, with $5.64 billion in investor capital commitments. The fund became fully invested during 2012.
In September 2012, GIP’S second fund (GIP II), completed fundraising with $8.25 billion in investor capital commitments, making it the largest independent infrastructure fund in the world at that time. Exceeding what it had initially projected, GIP’S third fund, GIP III, completed fundraising in January 2017 with approximately $15.8 billion in investor capital commitments.
The more than 12-years-old firm employs approximately 150 investment and operational professionals and has offices in New York, London and Sydney with operational headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. In the aggregate, its portfolio companies employ approximately 21,000 people, as compiled from Businessday survey.
Led by Adebayo Ogunlesi, a Nigerian-born lawyer and former Credit Suisse investment banking head, GIP last year began raising money for a potential $20 billion fund, just a year after raising a record-breaking $15.8 billion vehicle, much of it earmarked for assets in the energy and transport sectors.
Kim’s position as the vice chairman of GIP will make him the number two most important staff of the company after Ogunlesi, who is the chairman and managing partner of the firm.
According to people familiar with the matter, Kim’s departure for GIP took shape around the time of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, less than two months ago, when conversations about the new position heated up.
A major concern for the World Bank now would be sourcing a replacement for Kim, coupled with the fact that the Bank also wants to separate him from possible conflicts of interest, considering his job role at GIP is almost the same as the core business of World Bank – lending to build infrastructure such as power, water and transportation projects.
However, Kim accepted a oneyear cool-off period during which he will be barred from doing business with the organisation he has led since 2012.