Arsenal scrape to last-gasp win over Anderlecht

It all looked to be going wrong for Arsenal, but their perseverance paid off as two goals in the final minutes gave the London side a 2-1 Uefa Champions League win at Anderlecht on Wednesday.

Arsenal had forced Anderlecht goalkeeper Silvio Proto into a pair of sharp saves early in the second half. He showed fast reflexes to push aside a point-blank header from Alexis Sanchez in the 50th minute, and got down quickly to snuff out an attempt by Santi Cazorla on 63 minutes after the Spaniard had been played behind the defence by Sanchez.

Honduras international Andy Najar gave Anderlecht the lead on 71 minutes. The former DC United standout got on the end of Dennis Praet’s cross and nodded past Emiliano Martinez.

With time winding down, Kieran Gibbs volleyed home a Calum Chambers cross that looked to have sailed over everyone. Two minutes later, Anderlecht failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Lukas Podolski, who prodded home the winner for Arsenal.

In the other Group D match, two early goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put Borussia Dortmund on course for a 4-0 win over Galatasaray. Marco Reus and Adrian Ramos rounded out the scoring.

In Group A, former Fulham midfielder Pajtim Kasami gave Olympiakos a precious victory, scoring after 35 minutes in a 1-0 win over Juventus. Malmo resisted bravely for a half, but Koke scored one goal and set up three others as Atletico Madrid ran out 5-0 winners at home.

Hakan Calhanoglu set up goals by Giulio Donati and Kiriakos Papadopoulos as Bayer Leverkusen pulled away from Zenit St Petersburg in the second half to win 2-0 in Group C, while Monaco and Benfica drew 0-0. Elsewhere, Ludogorets beat Basel 1-0 in other Group B play.

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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.”

Arsenal scrape to last-gasp win over Anderlecht

Olympiakos score precious win over Juventus while Atletico Madrid cruise past Malmo