Brisbane offers plenty of options for outdoor sports enthusiasts. Getty Images
Brisbane offers plenty of options for outdoor sports enthusiasts. Getty Images

Business

Aussie adventures by the ocean

The Life: Brisbane is now connected to Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways.

Sananda Sahoo

February 11, 2013

Australia's east coast tends to take a major chunk of the tourism pie away from the rest of the country, and Brisbane might be considered one of the favourite reasons for this. Located in Queensland, the city has the lure of the Pacific Ocean and outdoor sports for adventure-seekers. It also has a state-of-the-art convention centre that attracts some of the largest conferences and gatherings in the country.

Key points about business travel to Brisbane.

Airlines to Brisbane: Etihad Airways, Emirates Airline, Jet Airways and Qantas Airways connect from Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Airport: The international terminal at Brisbane Airport (Iata code: BNE) opened in 1995.

An airport hotel: Novotel Brisbane Airport. A standard room starts at US$243.73 (Dh895) per night, tax included, as per the hotel website.

A downtown hotel: Rendezvous Hotel Brisbane Anzac Square in the commercial business district. Standard rooms start from A$152.

Cost of transportation from airport to city centre: A one-way ticket on Airtrain from Brisbane Airport to the city centre will cost about A$15.

Conference centre: Brisbane Conference and Exhibition Centre opened in the city's tourist and business hub South Bank in 1995. The building is 450 metres in length. Since then it has expanded a few times. In January last year, the centre opened a facility on Grey Street with two auditoriums and aims to cater to smaller meetings with up to 8,000 delegates.

Power restaurant: Urbane. Entrées start at A$28; mains range from A$38 to A$48 and dessert from A$18.

Work/business visa costs: A$110 to A$365 for various nationalities.

Currency/conversion rate: A$1 = Dh3.79

Main businesses in town: Insurance companies, mining, energy, banking and retail. Among the top public companies are Suncorp Metway, Queensland's large listed bank, Lihir Gold, Australia's second-largest gold producer, and Arrow Energy.

Things to do at night: Explore local haunts such as Three Monkeys Coffee House and Fatboy's Cafe, try indoor rock climbing at Urban Climb, and enjoy live music at Tivoli.

Founder: Ayman Badawi

Date started: Test product September 2016, paid launch January 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Software

Size: Seven employees

Funding: $170,000 in angel investment

Funders: friends

Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare

Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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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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