ABU DHABI // After a season that promised so much ut ended empty-handed Al Jazira will be anticipating a return to the good times after the worst kept secret in the Arabian Gulf League was confirmed on Tuesday that former coach Abel Braga had agreed to return to the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.
Officials at the club refused to comment on Braga’s impending arrival, merely saying that “all details will be announced when the coach is unveiled to the media shortly”. Tellingly though, Ahmed Saeed A Marzouqi, who was the team manager during Braga’s three-year spell at Jazira, has been reinstated to his former post, replacing Mohammed Salem Al Enazi.
The 62-year-old Brazilian is revered after leading Jazira to both the Arabian Gulf League and the President’s Cup titles in 2011 for the first time in the club’s history. But that league-and-cup double was a reward for three years of challenging in a league not renown for giving its coaches time to succeed.
Read more:
[ – Al Jazira confirm return of Abel Braga on two-year deal as replacement for Eric Gerets ]
[ – Arrival of AS Roma’s Gervinho at Al Jazira delayed for African Cup of Nations qualifier ]
After clinching those coveted titles, Braga moved to his homeland to take charge again of Fluminense, despite Jazira willing to tie the South American to an extended contract.
Alejandro Sabella succeeded Braga but the Argentine backed out of the agreement at the 11th hour to take charge of Argentina, leading Lionel Messi and company to the World Cup final in Brazil last year.
In August 2011, Franky Vercauteren was installed as coach, but the Belgian was fired mid-way through the season after a run of disappointing results. He was replaced by the Brazilian Caio Junior on a caretaker basis and despite retaining the President’s Cup the club opted part ways after Jazira were eliminated from the Asian Champions League at the last-16 stage.
Since then, under four different coaches – Paulo Bonamigo, Luis Milla, Walter Zenga, and Eric Gerets, the Belgium coach whom Braga will replace – the Abu Dhabi club have endured a barren spell that has yielded no trophies in the past three seasons.
Jazira finished a distant second in the Arabian Gulf League this season to Al Ain having led the table at the mid-season break. Failure to negotiate the Asian Champions League qualifiers and a limp exit to Ajman in the last 16 of the President’s Cup sealed Gerets’s fate.
Management at Jazira are positive that Braga is the man to lead the team’s title challenge next season, especially with the quality of the squad they have assembled.
Jazira wasted little time in completing two new foreign signings in Thiago Neves, the attacking Brazilian midfielder from Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, and Gervinho, the pacey forward from Roma, who is set to arrive after international duty with Ivory Coast.
The foreign quartet for the 2015/16 campaign then comprises Neves, Gervinho, and the retained Mirko Vucinic, the Montenegro striker who topped the AGL scoring chart with 25 goals in 2014/15, and Jucilei de Silva, the Brazilian who plays under a Palestine passport.
It is believed Braga, who won one Brazil cap as a centre-back in 1978, has agreed a two-year contract to replace Gerets, who was dismissed with one year still to run on his deal.
After leaving Jazira, Braga returned home to take charge of Fluminense and led them to third in the Brazil’s Serie A and qualification to the Copa Libertadores.
The following season he led the club to the Serie A title and was named the league’s best coach. However, his time there ended on a sour note when he was sacked in July 2013 after five consecutive defeats left the club in the relegation zone.
In his last coaching role he took up the reigns at Brazil’s Internacional, a club he had guided to the Copa Libertaores and the 2006 Fifa Club World Cup, in January 2014 but left 11 months later.
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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.”
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Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
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WHAT IS THE LICENSING PROCESS FOR VARA?
Vara will cater to three categories of companies in Dubai (except the DIFC):
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Category B: Existing legacy virtual asset service providers prior to February 7, 2023, which are required to come under Vara supervision. All operating service proviers in Dubai (excluding the DIFC) fall under Vara’s supervision.
Category C: New applicants seeking a Vara licence or existing applicants adding new activities. All applicants that do not fall under Category A or B can begin the application process through their current or prospective commercial licensor — the DET or Free Zone Authority — or directly through Vara in the instance that they have yet to determine the commercial operating zone in Dubai.
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
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How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
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