‘Everyone who’s grown up in the Middle East has grown up with anime’

From manga to monsters, kimonos to katanas, fans of Japanese comics and cartoons will have plenty to enjoy at the inaugural edition of Ani:Me. This celebration of Japanese popular culture is a regional first from the creators of the ever-popular Middle East Film & Comic Con.

Anime (Japanese animation) might at first glance seem a niche market, but event organiser Arafaat Ali Khan says that the genre has a surprisingly large following in the region.

“The beauty of anime and the Middle East is that practically everyone who’s grown up in the Middle East has grown up with anime,” he says. “It’s ingrained into their lives.

“If you look at all the artists that will be at the artists’ alley at Ani:Me, they’ve all been influenced by the likes of manga [Japanese comics] because from the late 1970s, when we just had one terrestrial TV channel, there were anime series that were dubbed so perfectly into Arabic, right down to the theme songs, that we thought they were Arabic cartoons and people adopted them as their own.

“I really believe it’s in the soul of people who were born and brought up here.”

Highlights of the event include talks, workshops and the chance to meet local and international artists, including Gatchaman and Vampire Hunter D artist Yoshitaka Amano, who will be selling selected artwork for the first time.

There will be stalls selling movies, comics and memorabilia; virtual-reality battles; performances by top Japanese bands, including headliners Flow and Jam Project; and video games.

No pop-culture event would be complete without a cosplay competition, and this one marks the first time the UAE has hosted an event that is an official part of the World Cosplay Summit. As a result, the winners will get to represent the country in Japan next year at the finals of the world’s biggest cosplay competition.

Many of the guests at the event are making their debut appearances in the region, says Khan.

“We don’t have many Japanese companies that come out here,” he says. “The fact that there is such a huge contingent, all coming out together in one place at one time, is really something quite spectacular for the region.”

• Ani:Me runs from today until Saturday at du Forum, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Tickets, from Dh95, available from Virgin Megastores and www.ticketmaster.com. Visit www.animeabudhabi.com

cnewbould@thenational.ae

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.”