Sherawat denies Banderas cheating report

Just weeks after Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas announced that they were ending their marriage after 18 years, reports came out that the Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat was the cause of the split, after a video surfaced of Banderas and Sherawat dancing together in Cannes two years ago. Sherawat has slammed the rumours, telling E! News: "Antonio Banderas is a wonderful man, a great dancer and an acquaintance of mine. I did not go on any vacation with him and I'm sorry he's going through a divorce." – The National staff

Kaiser Chiefs kick off Glastonbury

An unannounced set by Kaiser Chiefs has kicked off Glastonbury, Britain's leading summer music festival. The British rockers played a surprise morning gig on Friday, the first full day of the event. Dolly Parton, Arcade Fire, Blondie and Metallica are among the other headliners playing a festival famed for music — and mud. More than 150,000 ticketholders have descended on Worthy Farm in southwestern England for the music extravaganza, which ends today. Many sported the Glastonbury fashion staple — rubber Wellington boots — as rain began to turn the 900-acre site into a mudbath. – AP

LaBeouf arrested for disrupting show

Shia LaBeouf was released from police custody on Friday after he was escorted from a Broadway theatre for yelling obscenities and continuing to act irrationally while being arrested. The 28-year-old actor was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and harassment on Thursday night at the Broadway show Cabaret. A spokesman for Cabaret says LaBeouf was "disruptive during Act 1" and was escorted out of the theatre at intermission, but he refused, used obscene language and physically interfered with employees. LaBeouf is due back in court on July 24. – AP

Del Rey and Smith top Billboard 200

Lana Del Rey scored her first No 1 album on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart with Ultraviolence, while the British newcomer Sam Smith placed second with his debut record In the Lonely Hour. Last week's chart topper, Jack White's Lazaretto, dropped from No 1 to No 7 this week. – Reuters

Courtney Cox to marry Johnny McDaid

Courtney Cox says she is engaged to marry Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid. The actress and the musician revealed their engagement on Friday with a dual announcement on Twitter. The pair, who have been dating for under a year, posted a selfie with matching tweets saying, "I'm engaged to her" and "I'm engaged to him". This will be the second marriage for Cox, 50, who divorced David Arquette in May 2013 after nearly 14 years of marriage. – AP

While you're here

Watch: Davos 2021 panel discusses the future of work for women

Alice Haine: Investing in gender parity 'makes good business sense'

Kareem Shaheen: How the pandemic could set Arab women back

Simon Rushton: Home schooling forces UK mothers to quit jobs

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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.”

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

ENGLAND%20SQUAD

%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EGoalkeepers%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pickford%20(Everton)%2C%20Pope%20(Newcastle)%2C%20Ramsdale%20(Arsenal)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDefenders%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Chilwell%20(Chelsea)%2C%20Dier%20(Tottenham)%2C%20Guehi%20(Crystal%20Palace)%2C%20James%20(Chelsea)%2C%20Maguire%20(Man%20United)%2C%20Shaw%20(Man%20United)%2C%20Stones%20(Man%20City)%2C%20Trippier%20(Newcastle)%2C%20Walker%20(Man%20City)%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMidfielders%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBellingham%20(Dortmund)%2C%20Gallagher%20(Chelsea)%2C%20Henderson%20(Liverpool)%2C%20Maddison%20(Leicester)%2C%20Mount%20(Chelsea)%2C%20Phillips%20(Man%20City)%2C%20Declan%20Rice%20(West%20Ham)%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EForwards%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFoden%20(Man%20City)%2C%20Grealish%20(Man%20City)%2C%20Kane%20(Tottenham)%2C%20Rashford%20(Man%20United)%2C%20Saka%20(Arsenal)%2C%20Toney%20(Brentford)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A