As a daring venturer in the crowded waters of the sporting planet, the UAE has blossomed as a denouement capital, and we all know the peril therein.
To stage any finale or near-finale of any year-long sporting tour is to spend part of the time hoping against anticlimax.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Formula One's final race last year and its 18th of 19 this time around, held a stirring denouement last year and has a clear path to doing so again.
As Sebastian Vettel holds an astronomical 309 points while second-placed Jenson Button a tortoise's 185 after 14 races, the only thing that has to happen is as follows: Button wins the Japanese Grand Prix while Vettel finishes outside the top 10, Button wins the Korean Grand Prix while Vettel finishes outside the top 10, Button wins the Indian Grand Prix while Vettel finishes outside the top 10, and voila, intrigue reigns on Yas Island.
Now, some statistical sticklers will tell you that in 14 races Vettel has finished outside the top 10 this year precisely - wait, let me look it up here - OK, precisely zero times, and outside the top four exactly - checking again - OK, zero times, and outside the top two once in the entire, obstacle-laden campaign.
They will tell you that Button has won, OK, twice, so would have to outpace his entire season's victory haul, and that he has normal-human finishes such as sixth, fourth, sixth, sixth, 20th and 22nd.
And they will tell you harshly that as likelihoods go, the idea of Button frightening Vettel does sort of reside in the general Blackburn Rovers-2011/12 league-title neighbourhood.
These people are just so negative.
Buying into their expertise, though, it seems the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix might have to rely upon on a lavish array of parties, concerts, food, sunshine and one of the most stunningly beautiful sports facilities on Earth.
Good enough, but we still can hope that sometime this week, Vettel will grow bored and retire from the sport, effective immediately, even if that almost surely would not help.
As of Sunday evening on the money list of golf's December-bound, Dubai-bound Race to Dubai, top-ranked Luke Donald held a €1,295,590 (Dh6,337,707) lead over second-placed Rory McIlroy. That looks sturdy unless the currency happens to dissolve in which case the lead suddenly would become nil, but it's not that sturdy.
McIlroy made up €336,405 on Sunday at the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews by placing second to Donald's joint-ninth.
Lee Westwood, fourth in the Race to Dubai, said of Donald: "I think him being here tells you he doesn't think he's out of sight ... He's playing here this week and Madrid next week. He obviously thinks that the guys that have been around him are good enough to win the rest of the events he's playing in. I feel like I can win here, China and Dubai, and that will surely give me enough money to go past him, but he still has to play well."
Lavish purses beckon from Spain to Shanghai with at least two enticing concepts, one a sideshow.
In the first, the charismatic McIlroy charges through the balance of a year he outlined on Sunday: "I'm flying to Korea tomorrow morning and playing the Korean Open, and the week after, I play an exhibition in China, for seven days. And I go straight from China to Bermuda for the Grand Slam of Golf. Then I'm only in Bermuda for three days.
"And then I'm in Istanbul for four days watching some tennis. And then I'm in Shanghai for two weeks ... and then I've got two weeks off, which will be nice. Then I'll spend those in the Middle East or I'll spend them somewhere. Then I've got the World Cup of Golf in China again, Hong Kong Open, Dubai World Cup and the Thai Golf Championship."
(Note: one time when I was 22, some friends and I made a big road trip from university and wound up, like, 10 hours away from our home.)
The second involves Donald's startling pursuit of unprecedented money titles on both European and US tours. With his lead over Webb Simpson only US$68,971, (Dh253,323) there is speculation on whether the weary Simpson might butt into some anonymous autumnal event and force Donald to jet to somewhere like Orlando to keep up, presenting fatigue issues for Dubai.
Last week, Donald quipped that he might end up having to take his child to Disney World. A lot still might happen here in this denouement capital even if Vettel, at 24, opts not to retire.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight Championship AJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba
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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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
