The country's second telecommunications operator du has formed partnerships with Arab media companies including Rotana, MBC and GETMO Arabia to provide content on its new digital media platform anayou.
The site - its name consisting of the words "ana" ("me" in Arabic) and the English "you" - will offer users film content from the Saudi-owned media company Rotana, material from the satellite TV operator MBC and online music from GETMO Arabia.
"We have a full series of content partners. It's not only content, we also have media partners and application partners," said Osman Sultan, the chief executive of du, during the GITEX technology conference that opened in Dubai yesterday.
"We have agreements with Rotana as far as the music and film [content]. We have a very clear discussion with MBC."
Other media and technology providers include Eurosport, Accenture, Funambo, Hungama and the gaming company F4, the company said. Ammar Bakkar, the group director of new media at MBC Group, said the partnership with du for anayou was part of a "long-term deal".
"MBC has a huge content catalogue and it will be a continuing process of co-ordination as to what content is used over the du network," said Mr Bakkar.
"MBC usually ranges from drama to lifestyle to music … All types of content are open to this process." The issue of how the content was monetised would be "a question for du", he said.
GETMO Arabia, a joint venture between Bertelsmann and the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), will initially provide online music through the anayou site. ADMC also owns and publishes The National.
"We'll be offering a full range of services from the GETMO site to anayou users. It will be rolled out in phases according to the initial feedback," said Scott Weeman, the general manager of GETMO Arabia.
"The focus initially will be on the online music," he added, saying GETMO offered "a mix of international and local music". Mobile and gaming content could follow, said Mr Weeman, who added users would be billed for content by GETMO.
"Effectively, the users will be coming and doing transactions through the GETMO portal," he said. The development of anayou marks du's attempt to build a "digital destination" to rival the likes of Facebook and YouTube. "We're not saying we're replacing them but we want to become part of them," said Mr Sultan. "We want to be number one."
A beta version of the site, which is in Arabic, English and French, was launched on October 10. It promises applications, games, access to social networks, entertainment, sports, mobile games, phone call capabilities and 2 gigabytes of storage space on the web. Mr Sultan described the site as an "Arabian-made product available across three screens - mobile, web and soon on the TV".
Aside from social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, du faces competition from players such as Yahoo, which last year acquired the Middle East portal Maktoob for US$164 million (Dh602.3m). According to the website data provider Alexa, Maktoob is the sixth most-popular website in Saudi Arabia, behind Facebook (in fifth place) and YouTube (in second).
Last month, it emerged Yahoo Middle East had struck a deal with Al Jazeera to publish the Qatar-based TV channel's broadcasts on its site. Earlier this year, it struck a similar deal with Rotana.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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