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Baptista thinks Gunners could pay for inexperience

Youth is Arsenal's main weakness, the AS Roma forward Julio Baptista said of his team's opponents in the Champions League.

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ROME // Youth is Arsenal's main weakness, the AS Roma forward Julio Baptista said of his team's opponents in the Champions League. "Don't get me wrong, it isn't a defect, but when you're playing at this level, the last 16 of the Champions League, a lack of international experience can give your opponents an advantage," the Brazilian told Corriere dello Sport. Arsenal host Roma in the first leg on Tuesday, and then visit Italy on March 11. The Gunners will be without the injured Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor.

"They are two quality players and this is obviously good for Roma," Baptista said. "For Arsenal they will be two big losses, even if Eduardo has returned. He has come back in great form and we will need to watch out for him." The Brazilian then will be relieved to find out the Gunners will be without the striker who suffered a hamstring injury during his comeback match. The Croatian forward will be sidelined for two weeks. "What a nightmare," the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "Nobody knows how it happened but I knew straight away after the game it would be a two-week job. It is nothing like he had before but I do know that little setbacks like this are part of being nine months out. "After that long out, nobody plays six months on the trot. It is impossible." Roma-Arsenal is one of three Anglo-Italian matches in the Champions League, with Inter Milan facing European champions Manchester United and Juventus playing Chelsea. Baptista, who spent a season on loan at Arsenal, said the Italians teams cannot afford any slip ups.

"For sure they will be three great matches between the best teams in Europe. For us, as for Juventus and Inter, it will be hard because at the moment English football is the forefront. "Inter, Roma and Juventus have everything needed to do well against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, but it will be fundamental not to make any mistakes because if you mess up even briefly, you're out and can't recover. For this reason us, Inter and Juventus cannot commit any errors."

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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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