Another day, another ream of musical talent headed for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Lil Wayne, Tyga and Future will perform at the Diriyah Music Festival on Saturday, November 30, as part of the country's Ad Diriyah season.
The concert, held at the heritage site north-west of Riyadh, will mark the first time Lil Wayne has performed in the kingdom, while Tyga and Future made an appearance at the Jeddah World Festival earlier this year.
Lil Wayne burst on to the rap scene in the 2000s, after starting out with hip-hop group Hot Boys before going solo, with his most famous tracks including Lollipop, Mirror and Sucker for Pain.
The rapper, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr, has also featured on tracks by Destiny's Child, Usher and Drake, and scored a number of Grammys during his career.
Tyga, meanwhile, signed to Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment label in 2008, though he has since moved to Good Music. The rapper, who rose to tabloid fame thanks to his relationship with Kylie Jenner in 2017, has spawned hits such as Taste, Ayo and Rack City.
Future, born Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, is known for tracks such as Mask Off, Low Life and Turn on the Lights, and has worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
The trio will perform as part of Al Diriyah season, a month-long celebration that includes musical performances and events such as the Diriyah E Prix, before concluding on Saturday, December 21.
News of the concert comes a day after Miami-born rapper Pitbull, Jamaican reggae star Shaggy, and Puerto Rican singer Don Omar were revealed to be headlining a show at Al Diriyah on Friday, November 29.
This week, American pop rockers Imagine Dragons were also revealed to be playing in the kingdom as part of the Ad Diriyah E-Prix.
The Radioactive band will take to the stage on Friday, November 22, and are joined on the bill that night by Norwegian-British DJ Alan Walker and UK electronic stars Clean Bandit.
Colombian Grammy Award winner Maluma, meanwhile, will perform on Saturday, November 23, supported by Lebanese Canadian R&B singer Massari.
Tickets for the November 30 concert featuring Lil Wayne, Tyga and Future are on sale at www.diriyahseason.sa.
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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Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
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