Sport

AC Milan celebrates league title triumph with 4-1 win

An open team bus ride doesnot distract the winners of an 18th Serie A title from thrashing Cagliari.

Associated Press

May 15, 2011

AC Milan didn't disappoint its supporters as they celebrated the club's 18th league title before and during a 4-1 win over Cagliari.

The club secured the Italian title a week ago when they drew 0-0 away to Roma, and since then played the Italian Cup semi-final away to Palermo.

Ahead of the match, the team went on an open top bus ride through city streets thronged with supporters, before leading a procession to the San Siro.

Once at the stadium, players, their wives and children celebrated in front of the fans on the pitch wearing commemorative T-shirts.

When the match finally started, a brace from Robinho and a strike by Gennaro Gattuso gave Milan a 3-1 lead at the break before Clarence Seedorf added a fourth in the closing stages.

At full time the celebrations continued with the trophy presentation on the field in front of a capacity crown that included club president and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"We really wanted the guys to finish well at home, in front of the fans," Milan coach Massimo Allegri said. "They all did their best and deservedly finished with a win."

Also Saturday, Lazio scored three goals in the second half to keep up their pursuit of a Champions League place with a 4-2 win over Genoa.

At the San Siro, Cagliari's Radj Nainggolan had the first effort of the match, but shot wide from long range.

Milan struggled to create chances early on, but Robinho finally opened the scoring in the 22nd minute.

The Brazilian raced in from the left wing, slalomed past three defenders and curled a shot past goalkeeper Michael Agazzi from the edge of the box.

Two minutes later, Gattuso doubled Milan's lead. Robinho played a through ball toward Alexandre Pato, but Agazzi appeared to snuff out the danger as he rushed off his line. However, he fumbled the ball and as he tried to clear it went straight to Gattuso who headed into the empty net.

Robinho doubled his tally in the 35th. Pato slipped ball to him, the Brazilian took one touch and placed a shot under Agazzi.

Cagliari pulled a goal back three minutes later when Andre Cossu cut in past Mario Yepes and shot under Milan keeper Christian Abbiati.

With the clock ticking down, Seedorf ran onto another through ball from Pato to poke home his third goal of the season and wrap the match up for Milan.

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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.”