The Chicago Cubs closer Kerry Wood, left, celebrates with his team after they clinched the NL Central title.
The Chicago Cubs closer Kerry Wood, left, celebrates with his team after they clinched the NL Central title.
The Chicago Cubs closer Kerry Wood, left, celebrates with his team after they clinched the NL Central title.
The Chicago Cubs closer Kerry Wood, left, celebrates with his team after they clinched the NL Central title.

Sport

Cubs NL Central champions again

Ted Lilly tossed six innings and added an RBI single to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the St Louis Cardinals and their second straight National League Central Division title.

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CHICAGO// Ted Lilly tossed six innings and added an RBI single to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the St Louis Cardinals and their second straight National League Central Division title. Alfonso Soriano delivered a two-run single and Mark DeRosa also batted in a run for the Cubs (93-60), who have qualified for the post-season in consecutive years for the first time since appearing in three straight World Series from 1906-08.

Lilly (16-9) kept St Louis off the scoreboard for five innings before tiring in the sixth. The lefthander yielded four runs and six hits, walking two and striking out five en route to his third straight win. Carlos Marmol tossed a perfect eighth before Kerry Wood worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 32nd save. "To do it in this ballpark, in front of these fans, two years, back to back, this never gets old," the Cubs second baseman DeRosa said.

The Cubs closer Wood paid tribute to his team as well. "We're looking at the big picture," he said. "It's nice to get in. We expected to be in this spot. "This is the best team I've been a part of, the deepest team I've been a part of, the best offence," he added. While the race for the NL Central is over, the battle for top spot in the NL East remains close with the Philadelphia Phillies regaining the lead from the New York Mets after a 3-2 victory over the Florida Marlins.

Dobbs plated the go-ahead run with a single in the sixth inning and three relievers combined for four scoreless innings as the Phillies (87-68), pulled half a game in front of the Mets (86-68) for first place. The Atlanta Braves tagged Pedro Martinez for three first-inning runs and Jorge Campillo pitched six solid innings as they snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Mets. The LA Dodgers downed the San Francisco Giants 10-7 to maintain their three-and-a-half-game lead in the NL West over the Arizona Diamondbacks who got a game-winning two-run homer from Stephen Drew at the top of the ninth in a 5-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Elsewhere, Micah Owings looped a pinch-hit single in the sixth inning as the Cincinnati Reds held on for a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. * Agencies

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3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

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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Maratha Arabians 138-2

C Lynn 91*, A Lyth 20, B Laughlin 1-15

Team Abu Dhabi 114-3

L Wright 40*, L Malinga 0-13, M McClenaghan 1-17

Maratha Arabians won by 24 runs

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The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

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  • Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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