Jose Mourinho has suggested Manchester City play by "different rules" after their signing of Wilfried Bony put them over their net transfer spend limit. Peter Powell / EPA
Jose Mourinho has suggested Manchester City play by "different rules" after their signing of Wilfried Bony put them over their net transfer spend limit. Peter Powell / EPA
Jose Mourinho has suggested Manchester City play by "different rules" after their signing of Wilfried Bony put them over their net transfer spend limit. Peter Powell / EPA
Jose Mourinho has suggested Manchester City play by "different rules" after their signing of Wilfried Bony put them over their net transfer spend limit. Peter Powell / EPA

Sport

Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho question Manchester City’s signing of Wilfried Bony

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and his Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho have questioned Manchester City's signing of striker Wilfried Bony by suggesting the Premier League champions may have bent the rules regarding Financial Fair Play.

The National staff

January 17, 2015

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and his Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho have questioned Manchester City’s signing of striker Wilfried Bony by suggesting the Premier League champions may have bent the rules regarding Financial Fair Play.

City earlier this week confirmed the capture of Ivory Coast striker Bony from Swansea City in a deal reported to be worth £25 million (DH 139m).

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s clash with City at the Etihad Stadium, Wenger admitted he was “surprised” by the acquisition, given the sanctions imposed on City by UEFA that mean the club is limited to a £49m net transfer spend (DH 272.6m) for breaking Financial Fair Play rules.

“They must have the availability and the Financial Fair Play allows them to do it,” Wenger said. “I don’t know. It was a surprise, yes. They have huge financial potential now for a lot of years and we know that.

“It is part of our game and we have to deal with it.

“It’s not down to me to control it. There are official people to do that. I don’t know enough about what they do. It’s not my job as well to judge that.

While Wenger revealed his surprise at the signing, Mourinho went a step further by claiming City play by “different rules” to the rest of the Premier League.

“If they have the money and can spend it and have no problems with Financial Fair Play, well done,” Mourinho said ahead of Chelsea’s match with Bony’s former club Swansea.

“The rules are different for City, you know what I mean. But they can only play with 11, unless the rules for them are different and they can play with 12.

‘They have a fantastic squad, and one more top player for that squad: Aguero, Jovetic, Bony and Dzeko are fantastic. Well done.”

While Bony’s arrival pushes City’s net spend above the imposed limit, the eventual sale of striker Alvaro Negredo in the summer to Valencia and the departure of defender Matija Nastasic to Schalke will help balance the books.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini insisted he is not concerned about City’s spending.

“I don’t think this club or this team is just money,” the Chilean said. “Every team needs good players if they want to win important things.

“But after that, the way we play is very important.”

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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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