Take That to perform in Abu Dhabi on opening day of SailGP

British pop group Take That will be performing at Mina Zayed as part of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix.

The trio will take to the stage on January 13, concluding the opening day of the high-octane race. They are expected to perform many of their greatest hits, including Back for Good and Patience, as well as tracks from their ninth studio album This Life, which they released in November. The album was the highest selling from a UK artist in 2023, outselling the rest of the Top 25 combined.

Take That’s concert marks the first time SailGP, which is presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, will host a live music performance. Organisers refer to the championship as “the world’s most exciting racing on water”. The race features some of the globe’s best sailors, going neck to neck in identical hydrofoiling F50 catamarans, which are capable of reaching speeds up to 100km/h.

Take That, which was established in 1989, consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The group was originally a five-piece act that also included Robbie Williams and Jason Orange. Williams’s departure from Take That in 1996 prompted a nine-year disbandment after which the group returned in what is one of the most fevered comebacks in British music history.

Williams returned to the band for the album Progress in 2011, which broke several UK records for the fastest-selling album of the 21st century and fastest-selling tour of all time. Williams’s second departure, along with that of Jason Orange, left the remaining three members to release III (2014) and Wonderland (2017), which were certified platinum and gold respectively.

The upcoming SailGP concert will not be the first time Take That have performed in the UAE. The boy band was at the Dubai Media Amphitheatre in 2017. Barlow performed as a solo artist in Dubai in 2014, while Williams took the stage at Etihad Arena in October.

Tickets to SailGP are on sale at SailGP.com/AbuDhabi. Both regular and premier tickets to the Waterfront Grandstand, priced at Dh210 and Dh475 respectively, will grant access to the Take That concert. Additional musical performances and entertainment are also expected to be unveiled soon for the concluding day of the race.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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