Abu Dhabi Golf Club will in January host the Hero Cup, a new team match-play event on the DP World Tour designed to provide European players experience in team golf.
The event, announced on Tuesday, will run from January 13-15 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, the week before the Rolex Series' Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.
Two 10-man teams comprising players from Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe will be selected by Luke Donald, the 2023 European Ryder Cup captain, in consultation with the respective team captains. The two captains are yet to be named. Donald will work with both teams in Abu Dhabi.
The Hero Cup will comprise one session of foursomes, one session of fourballs and one session of singles matches, with all 20 players taking part in each session.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Donald said: “One of the first things I was keen to do when I was appointed as Ryder Cup captain was to reinstate a team match-play contest to give playing and leadership experience to future Ryder Cup players, vice-captains and captains.
“I spoke to a number of former Ryder Cup captains who were strong advocates of how similar events in the past have benefitted players who were pushing to make Ryder Cup teams, as well as their own captaincy journey.
“I am therefore grateful to Hero MotoCorp and the DP World Tour for supporting the concept of the Hero Cup, and I look forward to seeing the players compete at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in January.”
The teams will be confirmed following the season-concluding DP World Tour Championship, which takes place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 17-20. Tuesday’s statement said performance on the DP World Tour rankings would be taken into account in the player-selection process.
Guy Kinnings, European Ryder Cup director and DP World Tour deputy CEO and chief commercial officer, said: “The Hero Cup is another example of Hero MotoCorp’s commitment to innovation in golf and to our Tour in general.
“We are therefore extremely grateful to Dr Munjal for his continued support and for backing this new event, which is an evolution of our proud tradition of team match-play events.
“Our thanks also go to Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the Emirates Golf Federation for their support of the DP World Tour, and to Abu Dhabi Golf Club for hosting this event which will be a fantastic way to start the 2023 calendar year.”
Aref Al Awani, general secretary at Abu Dhabi Sports Council, said: “We are delighted to be hosting the Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, adding yet another fantastic tournament to our roster of world-class sporting events.
“Team match play is always an exciting format and, along with our Rolex Series event the following week at Yas Island, we are thrilled to welcome the DP World Tour players to Abu Dhabi for two consecutive weeks at the start of 2023.”
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What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
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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