LONDON // Arsenal legend Thierry Henry urged his former team to find some consistency if they want to challenge for Premier League honours.
The club have won the FA Cup in back-to-back seasons, beating Aston Villa 4-0 in the final last month, but finished third in the league as they once again came up short.
Arsenal have not put in a strong title challenge since they last won the competition in 2004.
Read more:
– EPL fixtures: Chelsea host Swansea, Tottenham travel to Manchester United, Liverpool go to Stoke
– ‘I want to be wanted by Arsenal’ says Jack Wilshere, not eager to make any move
Henry feels their Cup successes, which came following a nine-year trophy drought, shows they have the ability, but what is lacking is consistency.
“It’s a difficult task to win the FA Cup back-to-back, but they have done that,” he told Arsenal Player.
“You could see right from the start (against Villa) that Arsenal were going to win the game, and that made it easier for us fans to watch – it was less nerve-racking than the year before.
“So the progress is there, now what we are waiting for is the consistency in the league because that is very important. That is where you can judge a team, in the league.
“Having said that, our generation started by winning the cup and went on to win a double and stayed unbeaten -- that is all I can hope for this group to do.”
Henry won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup three times and reached the Champions League final in 2004 during his eight-year spell in North London.
Wilshere fined £40,000 for anti-Spurs chants
Arsenal star Jack Wilshere was fined £40,000 on Wednesday and warned over his future conduct after being charged with making controversial remarks about rival club Tottenham.
The 23-year-old England player had taken to the microphone and led fans in two crude chants about their arch rivals during an open-top bus parade, a day after Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup final last month.
“Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere has been fined £40,000 and severely warned as to his future conduct after admitting to a charge of misconduct,” said a statement released by the Football Association.
“Wilshere was found guilty of making and/or inciting certain comments during the club’s open bus trophy tour after their FA Cup Final victory, with his conduct deemed to be improper and bringing the game into disrepute.”
Wilshere, who came through Arsenal’s youth system, had already expressed regret over his behaviour.
“Sharing back2back Cup wins with so many amazing Gooners is a dream come true. Apologies if I upset or offended any of u with my celebrations,” he tweeted in the aftermath of the incident.
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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.”
In the Restaurant: Society in Four Courses
Christoph Ribbat
Translated by Jamie Searle Romanelli
Pushkin Press