Corporate Profile: O.D. Kobo

O.D. Kobo is an established alternative asset manager with nearly three decades of experience in finance and technology, specializing in capital structuring, with over $15 billion in transactions across global markets.

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Born in Hong Kong and educated in London, Kobo has led large-scale capital initiatives involving state-owned enterprises (SOEs), state-owned investment funds (SOIFs), sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), and financial institutions, primarily across Asia, the Gulf, Russia (pre-sanctions), and Africa. He maintains an extensive network through collaborations with financial institutions, family offices, and public-private entities, focusing on mergers and acquisitions for high-value projects.

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Kobo is recognized for his expertise in complex capital structures, debt financing, equity formation, cross-border deal execution, and maintaining close associations with institutions including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Alibaba, Bank of China, China Investment Corporation (CIC), China Mobile, CITIC Group, Haitong Securities, Olayan Group, Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). He has also collaborated directly with prominent individuals including HH Al Thani (former Prime Minister of Qatar and Chairman of QIA), Roman Abramovich (Millhouse Capital), Mikhail Fridman (Alfa Group), Suleyman Kerimov (Gazprom), Richard Caring (Caprice Holding), Ding Lei (NetEase), Jack Ma (Alibaba), and Teddy Sagi (Labtech, Playtech).

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His work spans private equity, real assets, and digital infrastructure, emphasizing early institutional participation in emerging asset classes and co-facilitating transactions.

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Earlier in his career, Kobo founded and successfully exited companies through acquisitions by entities including QIA, MetLife, Lenovo, América Móvil, Sun Microsystems, Tencent, Yahoo, and NetEase. He studied Business at Regent’s Business School London and Finance at the London School of Economics.