Property

Dubai Properties links up with Gems on British school in Dubai

The school will be located in the Mudon Community and is scheduled to open in September 2016.

John Everington

September 09, 2014

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Dubai Properties has tied up with the schools operator Gems Education for the development of a new British curriculum school in Dubai’s Mudon Community.

The new Gems school, which is scheduled to open its doors in September 2016, will cater to children from kindergarten to Grade 12. The school will be located on a plot of about 419,000 square metres, and will be spread over three storeys.

The financial details of the agreement, announced today, were not disclosed. The companies did not comment on how many students the new school would accept.

“Dubai Properties signed this strategic agreement with Gems Education in order to provide residents within the community with schooling options for their children,” said Mohammed Al Habbai, the chief officer for urban planning and infrastructure at Dubai Properties Group.

“We will continue to invest in schools, medical services and sports amenities along with other essential leisure and community facilities to enhance family life in Mudon.

“There is growing demand for high-quality international education as more and more people choose the UAE as the destination to start a family and raise their children,” said Dino Varkey, the group executive director at Gems Education.

“We look forward to welcoming the first pupils to our new Gems British curriculum school in Mudon in September 2016.”

Dubai Properties began offering town houses and villas in its Mudon community – located 15 minutes from the centre of Dubai – last year. The developer announced the release of a further 120 town houses in the community last month, starting at Dh2.5 million.

Gems currently operates more than 42 schools across the UAE, with more than 140,000 pupils from 173 nationalities and 13,000 education staff from 115 countries.

The company is this month opening two schools in Dubai, Gems FirstPoint School, located in The Villa development, and Gems Metropole School, in Motor City.

“Our relationship with Gems stems back to 2012 when our holding company, Dubai Properties Group, made an agreement to open the Gems First Point school at The Villa community,” added Mr Al Habbai.

“As the group’s new dedicated development company, we will continue to invest in our communities to provide residents with the necessary services and amenities.”

Reports last month said that Blackstone Group and Fajr Capital were close to acquiring a 20 per cent stake in the schools operator, in a deal said to be worth about US$350 million.

jeverington@thenational.ae

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Company profile

Company name: Suraasa

Started: 2018

Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker

Based: India, UAE and the UK

Industry: EdTech

Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding

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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Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world

New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.

The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.

Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.

“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.

"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."

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He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal

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