Johannesburg // Bundesliga star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted his penalty shootout kick Saturday as Gabon became the first team to reach the third round of African 2018 World Cup qualifying.
Gabon beat Mozambique 4-3 on penalties following extra time in Libreville after Gabon won 1-0 to level the second-round tie at 1-1 on aggregate.
Aubameyang, who has scored 22 goals from 20 appearances for Borussia Dortmund in all competitions this season, missed the 1-0 away loss to Mozambique three days ago due to injury.
He did not score during the 120-minute second leg, but set up the only goal for Malick Evouna after four minutes at Stade L’amitie Sino Gabonaise.
A crowd that included President Ali Bongo Ondimba saw Aubameyang dart down the left side and cross for Evouna to calmly fire the ball past goalkeeper Soarito and several defenders.
Soarito produced several fine saves before Mozambique came close to equalising seconds from the end of regular time when Gildo struck the base of the post..
After 30 tense, unexciting minutes of extra time, Gabon goalkeeper Didier Ovono saved two shootout kicks before Aubameyang hammered his high into the left corner.
A further five second legs are scheduled for Sunday and 14 for Tuesday.
Updated African 2018 World Cup second round qualifying results Saturday
Second leg
At Libreville
Gabon 1 (Evouna 4) Mozambique 0 aet
Gabon win 4-3 on penalties after 1-1 aggregate tie
First legs
At Addis Ababa
Ethiopia 3 (Gibeto 41, Fekadu 82, Bekele 90+1) Congo Brazzaville 4 (Bifouma 43, Nguessi 63, Ndinga 75, Binguila 81)
At Dar es Salaam
Tanzania 2 (Maguri 43, Samatta 55) Algeria 2 (Slimani 72, 75)
At N’Djamena
Chad 1 (N’Douassel 73) Egypt 0
At Francistown, Botswana
Botswana 2 (Gadibolae 14, Mogorosi 23) Mali 1 (Sow 56)
Played Friday
At Antananarivo
Madagascar 2 (Andriatsima 27, Rakotoharimalala 59) Senegal 2 (Diouf 71, Mane 81)
At Mitsamiouli, Comoros
Comoros 0 Ghana 0
At Nairobi
Kenya 1 (Olunga 9) Cape Verde 0
At Sfax, Tunisia
Libya 1 (Saleh 48-pen) Rwanda 0
Note: post-Moamer Kadhafi-era violence prevented fixture being staged in Libya
At Benguela, Angola
Angola 1 (Gelson 2) South Africa 3 (Rantie 14, Gabuza 20, Jali 82-pen)
At Niamey
Niger 0 Cameroon 3 (M’bia 36, Aboubakar 39, Salli 40)
At Monrovia
Liberia 0 Ivory Coast 1 (Cyriac 44)
At Nouakchott
Mauritania 1 (N’Diaye 22) Tunisia 2 (Khazri 62, Chikhaoui 68)
At Lobamba, Swaziland
Swaziland 0 Nigeria 0
Played Thursday
At Bujumbura
Burundi 2 (Amissi 38, 83) Democratic Republic of Congo 3 (Bolasie 5, Mubele 86, 88)
At Windhoek
Namibia 0 Guinea 1 (N. Keita 27)
At Cotonou
Benin 2 (Sessegnon 45-pen, Bello 84) Burkina Faso 1 (Nakoulma 51)
At Lome
Togo 0 Uganda 1 (Ochaya 40)
At Agadir, Morocco
Morocco 2 (El Arabi 30, Bammou 66) Equatorial Guinea 0
Played Wednesday
At Maputo
Mozambique 1 (H. Pelembe 55) Gabon 0
At Merowe, Sudan
Sudan 0 Zambia 1 (Kalengo 28)
Second legs: Nov 15, 17
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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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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
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The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
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3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
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6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
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8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
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10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier
Sunday's results:
- UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
- Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
- Oman v Hong Kong, no result
Tuesday fixtures:
- Malaysia v Singapore
- UAE v Oman
- Nepal v Hong Kong
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