From
Admin desk

The 29-storey building in Ikoyi where Burna Boy had a Ferrari hoisted into his penthouse is owned by a Dutch businessman who has spent 45 years out of the public eye.

Cornelis G. Vink is the owner of Tropical General Investments, the Lagos-based conglomerate whose real estate arm, Kaizen Properties, is developing 39 Bourdillon with El-Alan Construction Group. Despite widespread coverage of the Ferrari video, Vink’s name was largely absent from reports.

The Video That Resurfaced
Clips of the singer’s vintage Ferrari Testarossa being craned through a removed balcony at the tower went viral again in late August, racking up millions of views. But the footage is not new — the same video and the 1.6 billion naira price tag attached to the car first appeared online in August 2025. The car was lifted into the penthouse a year ago.

That valuation has also been challenged. http://Legit.ng fact-checked the 1.6 billion naira figure and estimated a Testarossa of that era at about $120,000, roughly 175 million naira, calling the social media numbers exaggerated.

What is confirmed is the building itself.

39 Bourdillon: Ikoyi’s Luxury Landmark
Located on over 5,170 square metres on Bourdillon Road, 39 Bourdillon, also called 39 A and B Bourdillon, is a 29-floor residential tower in Nigeria’s priciest neighbourhood.

It contains 41 to 44 units, including four-bedroom apartments and simplexes, five-bedroom duplex villas, and a six-bedroom triplex penthouse. Facilities listed include panoramic elevators, a private cinema, gym, squash court, tennis court, spa, pool, underground parking and 24-hour concierge. Prices have not been published by Kaizen or El-Alan.

This is not the developers’ first Ikoyi project. In 2020 they completed 4 Bourdillon, a 25-storey twin tower at the junction of Bourdillon and Thompson Road. At 102.6 metres it is among West Africa’s tallest residential buildings, with 41 apartments, roof gardens and curved balconies. It was designed by P&T Architects, engineered by Hancock Ogundiya and Partners, and built by El-Alan. The Financial Times used it in 2021 to show Lagos’ luxury market defying the wider economy.

From Capri-Sun to a Banking Giant
Vink moved to Lagos from the Netherlands in the 1970s and registered TGI in 1980. His first big product was imported Capri-Sun juice in 1982. That same year he founded CHI Limited, the company behind Chivita juices and Hollandia dairy.

TGI’s strategy has been consistent: start by importing, then shift to local production. Today the group claims more than 100 brands across FMCG, agriculture, chemicals, home care and pharma, with about 24 companies under parent firm Vinc Corporation.

Its footprint is large: WACOT Rice Mill in Kebbi is called Africa’s biggest parboiled rice mill. CORMART is a major styrene-acrylic producer. CHI Farms is a top supplier of day-old chicks. CHI Pharmaceuticals earned WHO GMP certification. In Benin, Fludor runs the country’s largest cashew plant and employs over 1,000 women.

In 2019 Coca-Cola bought CHI outright for a reported $1 billion, after taking a minority stake in 2016. Vink made no public comments about the deal.

Three years later, TGI made another quiet but massive move. Titan Trust Bank, launched in 2018 and over 85% owned by TGI, bought 89.39% of Union Bank of Nigeria in 2022 for 191 billion naira. Afreximbank backed the purchase with $300 million. A three-year-old bank had acquired one of Nigeria’s oldest lenders, founded in 1917.

New Partnerships
In February this year, TGI signed a joint venture with Reliance Consumer Products, the FMCG arm of India’s Reliance Industries led by Mukesh Ambani. Pending regulatory approval, the deal will focus on manufacturing and distributing affordable consumer goods for Nigeria and West Africa, combining Reliance’s R&D with TGI’s regional distribution.

The Man Who Avoids the Spotlight
Vink was honoured as a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Tekedia named him Businessperson of the Year in 2021 after the Union Bank acquisition.

Despite decades in Nigeria, he grants no interviews, rarely appears at events, and has never been listed by Forbes. No public estimate of his wealth exists. His son, Frans Vink, also holds an executive role in the group.

39 Bourdillon may be the closest Vink has come to public visibility — and even then, it’s the address, not eyes to the tower in a week than Vink has had on himself in 40 years.