The Women's World Cup is reaching the business end of the tournament this week. John Woods / AP Photo
The Women's World Cup is reaching the business end of the tournament this week. John Woods / AP Photo

Austrian GP, tennis finals and international football: Five sports events in the week ahead



A look ahead to the biggest events from the world of sport.

Austrian Grand Prix, Sunday

Nico Rosberg won last year’s race at the Red Bull Ring from third place on the grid and the German needs a repeat performance as the Mercedes-GP looks to close the 17-point gap by which he trails teammate Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.

Tennis finals, Sunday

The main grass court tournaments acting as build-up to Wimbledon finish tomorrow at Queen’s Club in England and at Halle in Germany. The winner at Queen’s tomorrow should not be too optimistic for Wimbledon though as only three men (Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) have won the event and gone on to win the major three weeks later. At Halle, Roger Federer in 2006 was the last man to triumph and go on to win at SW19.

Volvo Ocean Race, all week

The final leg of the race concludes this week as the seven vessels head for Gothenburg. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ador) have already mathematically been crowned as overall winners, and they can make it double delight as they prepare to claim the winners’ trophy by claiming the In-Port series title too, with the final race in Gothenburg scheduled to take place on Saturday, with Ador having a six-point lead over second-placed Brunel.

Copa America, all week

The group stages finish this week in Chile, with the big match on Tuesday in Group C seeing Brazil take on Venezuela, needing a win to guarantee a spot in the quarter-finals, but having to do so without suspended captain Neymar, who was sent off in their surprise 1-0 loss to Colombia on Wednesday.

Women’s World Cup, all week

We are now at the knockout stages of the competition in Canada, with last-16 games beginning today and running until Tuesday, with the quarter-finals on Friday and Saturday. The pick of the last-16 action is former champions Germany and Sweden meeting in Moncton today, while holders Japan take on the Netherlands in Vancouver on Tuesday.

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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.”