KKR names European head of infrastructure

Jesús Olmos Clavijo, former CEO of Spanish utility Endesa, will report to Marc Lipschultz, KKR’s global head of energy and infrastructure and work alongside Simon Hipperson, managing director in its European infrastructure team in London.

Jesús Olmos Clavijo has joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ London office as a managing director and head of infrastructure in Europe. Clavijo, a native of Spain, was previously managing director for corporate development at Endesa, the largest electric utility in that country.

The appointment comes just over a week since George Bilicic, formerly the head of infrastructure at the buyout giant, left to rejoin Lazard after less than six months in the job.

At Endesa, Clavijo was responsible for the company’s mergers and acquisitions and operations outside Spain and Latin America, during which he led investments in infrastructure assets in Portugal, Italy, France, Poland, Turkey and a number of other countries. He also was instrumental in developing Endesa’s European asset portfolio, which the company sold to Germany’s E.On for an enterprise value of €11 billion.

Jesús Olmos Clavijo

Clavijo also served as CEO of Endesa from 2004 to 2008 and was a member of the executive board reporting to the chairman.

At KKR, he will report to Marc Lipschultz, the firm’s global head of energy and infrastructure and work alongside Simon Hipperson, managing director in KKR’s European infrastructure team in London. Hipperson joined KKR in September from Skanska Infrastructure Development, where he was the chief executive officer.

Other members of KKR’s infrastructure team include John Bookout and Clint Johnstone, two senior KKR advisors who joined the firm’s infrastructure efforts when Bilicic was hired in May. Since then, KKR also has added John Bryson, the former chairman and chief executive of Edison International, as a senior advisor to the team.

KKR had been planning a $10 billion infrastructure fundraise, according to data from placement agent Probitas. However, a person familiar with the matter previously said in an interview that the fundraising target is much closer to $5 billion.