After false dawn of Inter victory, Juve's Serie A woes worsen

Juventus' troubles continued in a 3-1 loss at newly-promoted Bari with playmaker Diego missing a penalty kick for the 27-time Serie A champions. Juventus were eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday after an emphatic 4-1 home loss to Bayern Munich. The Bianconeri beat Serie A leaders Inter Milan last weekend but have now fallen further behind the defending champions who top the table by five points, six ahead of Juve, despite a 1-1 draw at Atlanta yesterday. Second-placed AC Milan were shocked 2-0 at home to Palermo.

"We're lacking continuity," Juventus president Jean-Claude Blanc said. Under-fire Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara would not criticise his team since they created plenty of scoring chances, but he called it "a heavy loss." He added: "It's tough to digest, and you can see that in the players' eyes. It's difficult to offer an explanation." With 51,849 fans on hand for Juventus' first visit to the San Nicola stadium in nine years, Riccardo Meggiorini put Bari in front seven minutes in. David Trezeguet equalized for Juventus in the 23rd but Paulo Barreto restored Bari's lead with a penalty kick in the 44th, Diego fired his spot kick way over the bar in the 68th and Sergio Almiron sealed the victory for Bari in the 81st.

Cristian Molinaro and Mauro Camoranesi exited for Juventus with apparent injuries. The game was also the last for the Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon before he had knee surgery yesterday. His operation was successful and he should be able to return in about a month. The club said yesterday that the arthroscopic operation on the Italy international's left meniscus lasted about 10 minutes. Buffon has been playing through pain in his knee for the last month but had put off the surgery to take advantage of Serie A's winter break.

Meanwhile, about 5,000 Lazio fans protested outside the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, calling for club president Claudio Lotito and coach Davide Ballardini to leave. Lazio are 15th in Serie A, only three points clear of the relegation zone. The club's supporters grew more disgruntled after a 1-0 loss to AS Roma in the Rome derby last weekend. The ANSA news agency reported that fans acted peacefully but shouted slogans such as "Set Lazio free," and "Lotito: Leave."

Lazio beat Genoa 1-0 yesterday. * With agencies

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

Started: 2021

Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid

Based: Tunisia

Sector: Water technology

Number of staff: 22

Investment raised: $4 million

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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.”