Champions League Twenty20 in numbers

Cricket’s Champions League Twenty20 begins on Monday in Mohali, India, with four teams taking part in a qualifying round, before eight sides are split into two groups and compete to make the final on October 6. The tournament, though less glamorous than the Indian Premier League, is now into its fifth year and growing stronger every year.

0 There will be no English teams in the tournament as the tournament clashes with the finale of the County Championship. English teams also missed out in 2010. Indian teams get three automatic spots in the tournament and a qualifying slot. South Africa (2), Australia (2) and West Indies (1) each have spots too but sides from New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have to qualify.

1 The Faisalabad Wolves will be the first Pakistani team to play on Indian soil since before the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Misbah-ul Haq, the Pakistan national captain who plays for Faisalabd, hopes the decision to allow his team to play will open up more cricket opportunities between the two nations. "I feel cricket must go on," Misbah told AFP. "Giving a Pakistani team clearance is a positive sign and I hope this will help open more doors for Indo-Pak cricket."

135 Australian big hitter David Warner has registered the two highest scores in the Champions League. He hit 135 not out and 123 not out in 2011 for New South Wales. Daniel Harris of South Australia has the third top score with 108 not out, also in 2011.

6 The tournament is certainly lucrative — the total prize money is US$6 million (Dh22m). The winners get $2.5m, runners-up $1.3m, semi-finalists $500,000 and those eliminate in the groups take home $200,000. On top of that each team receives a participation fee of $500,000.

2 Australia and India have twice seen their teams win the tournament. New South Wales Blues triumphed in the first edition in 2009. Since Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Sydney Sixers have each put their name on the trophy.

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What is graphene?

Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.

It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.

It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.

It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.

Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.

The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.

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.”