Pregnant Lindsay Lohan shares pictures from her baby shower

Lindsay Lohan celebrated her baby shower surrounded by family and friends over the weekend.

The actress shared several pictures from the event on Instagram on Thursday, saying she was “so grateful for all the wonderful people in her life”.

In one photo, Lohan is seen cradling her growing bump in a white dress, while in another, she poses in an orange dress alongside her sister, Aliana.

She was also joined by her mother, Dina, and several other friends and family members as she celebrated the shower in New York City.

Several stars were quick to congratulate Lohan with well wishes on the post.

Paris Hilton, who recently welcomed her first child, Phoenix with husband Carter Reum, wrote: “So happy for you love!”. Designer Jeremy Scott, meanwhile, said: “Pregnancy looks gorgeous on you Lindz!!!”

Lohan announced she is expecting her first child with Kuwaiti husband Bader Shammas last month.

The actress, 36, shared the news with her 12 million Instagram followers, sharing a picture of a white baby grow emblazoned with the words "coming soon".

"We are blessed and excited!" she captioned the image.

Lohan and Shammas wed last year, after announcing their engagement in 2021. While the couple have kept much of their relationship private, they are thought to have been dating since 2019.

The couple live Dubai, where Shammas works in finance.

Lohan has offered a few insights into married life. Speaking on her podcast The Lohdown with Lindsay Lohan last year, she praised the Middle Eastern dishes cooked for her by her husband’s family.

“I feel like ... his family’s food, when his mother makes certain foods, those are my happy place foods,” she said. “They are just so authentic and comforting and exciting.”

Lohan, who made a long-awaited return to acting last year in Netflix's Falling for Christmas, moved to Dubai in 2014 after first visiting in 2008 for the opening of Atlantis, The Palm.

“It took me moving there [to Dubai] to really appreciate the time that I take for myself, instead of just going, going, going and learning to say 'no'. And really putting myself first, and choosing the things that I want to do, wisely, for me first,” she said.

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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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The struggle is on for active managers

David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.

The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.

Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.

Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.

Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.

At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.