Sheikh Hamdan shares heart-warming family photo of twins and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, has joined his son Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai, and his twins, Sheikh Rashid and Sheikha Shaikha, on their summer holidays.

On Tuesday, Sheikh Hamdan shared a photo of himself on a tricycle with his father standing beside him. Sheikh Rashid and Sheikha Shaikha are sat in the front wearing helmets with their faces hidden by blue and pink emojis.

Earlier in the day, Sheikh Hamdan also shared a video of five racing pigeons being freed from their enclosure.

Last week, Sheikh Hamdan posted photos of his F3 Stables as well as his son, Sheikh Rashid.

Simply captioning the photos with a blue heart emoji and a horse emoji, the first image shows the young sheikh wearing a light blue jumper and stroking the horse's nose. In the second, the father and son are hand-in-hand, walking through a paddock. He tagged the F3 Team in the shots.

The video was posted by Ahmad Jaber Al Harbi, a friend and regular travel companion of the Crown Prince, and was captioned: "When a Dubai resident spotted @faz3 in #London".

"Please can I take a picture?" the excited fan asks Sheikh Hamdan, who instantly replies, "Yes, yes."

Sheikh Hamdan then helps the fan take the selfie, by focusing the shot on her iPhone.

The male fan, who is wearing a green and white football kit, then goes in for a selfie and says, "Sorry to bother you", and Sheikh Hamdan replies, "No, it's OK", and shakes his hand.

Sheikh Hamdan's travel adventures — in pictures

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Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')

Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')

Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)

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.”

Sheikh Hamdan shares heart-warming family photo of twins and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

The Crown Prince of Dubai has been spending his summer with his children and father

Sheikh Hamdan's travel adventures — in pictures

MATCH INFO