TAKING NAMES, LEADING DEALS
Travel is a constant for Adebayo O. Ogunlesi,
a director in the New York City-based investment bank First Boston
Inc. On Monday, he may be in Caracas, Wednesday in Manhattan and
Thursday off to Sydney. "It is an unusual week when I spend
the whole time in New York. I get my passport renewed every nine
months," the Nigerian-born banker says.
Such activity suits Ogunlesi, 38, who joined First
Boston in 1983. Since 1989, when he became a director--a year
earlier than others who joined First Boston when he did, insiders
say--he has led financing teams doing business throughout the
world.
Ironically, Ogunlesi thought he would spend his
career in law. After the Oxford University alumnus received his
Harvard JD and MBA degrees, he spent two years clerking. First,
the former Harvard Law Review editor worked in the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia, then for former Supreme
Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In 1982, he joined the partner
track at the elite New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine &
Moore. "That's where I thoughtl would be forever," he
says.
The same year, a Cravath, Swaine client-- First
Boston--asked to borrow Ogunlesi for three months to work on a
liquefied natural gas project. Shortly after, First Boston "discovered
I had an MBA and actually read spreadsheets," he says.
This was good for First Boston and bad for Cravath,
Swaine, to which Ogunlesi never returned. "In an investment
bank if you are good, you get responsibility and respect early
on. In a law firm, even if you are good you have to wait,"
he says.
There has been no waiting at First Boston. Ogunlesi
has been involved in a stream of deals including buying airplanes,
selling airlines and providing project finance for petroleum projects.
Among major deals: in 1991, leading a team that sold a controlling
interest in the Venezuelan airline Viasa to an Iberian Airlines-led
group for $145 million; two years earlier he led a group that
helped Iberian Airlines buy Aerolinas Argentina for $500 million
and in another deal provided $150 million in project financing
for Texaco and California Edison. Ogunlesi's office is festooned
with deal trophies, such as, tombstones, model airlines and hats
with company logos.
Generally modest, Ogunlesi admits he knows how
to assemble teams. But he says the hardest aspects of his work
are the nontechnical ones. These include: influencing clients,
inspiring confidence, managing expectations and knowing when to
step aside. The quantitative side is predictable; the human side
is not. "In the 1980s, the number of transactions seemed
important. But at the end of the day what you really have to do
is maintain a long-term relationship with a client," he says.
Ogunlesi remains loose by not taking himself too
seriously. This point was brought home, he says, the only time
his son was impressed by his job. The reason: Ogunlesi led a $62.5
million asset-backed preferred stock offering for Mattell, the
toy maker.
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