Sport

Dreaded axe looms in Dubai

The Al Wasl and Al Nasr managers are under pressure after last week's sacking of Toninho Cerezo of Al Shabab and Ajman's Ze Mario, both for failing to produce results.

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

October 30, 2009

  • English
  • Arabic

The heat is on for Alexandre Guimaraes and Frank Pagesldorf. The Al Wasl and Al Nasr managers are under pressure after last week's sacking of Toninho Cerezo of Al Shabab and Ajman's Ze Mario, both for failing to produce results. The pair's clubs are lagging at the bottom half of the table (Wasl in 8th, Nasr in 9th) and defeat for either team will likely have the fans demanding a change. The two teams played out a 2-2 draw in the Etisalat Cup earlier in the month.

Guimaraes' men beat Al Dhafra in their last game and the Brazilian hopes to take this confidence forward when they face city rivals tonight at the Al Maktoum Stadium. "The win over Al Dhafra relieved a lot of pressure on the players," said Guimaraes. "All we need to do now is to try and build on this win at this early stage in the league. Another three points from Al Nasr and we are back in business."

Al Wasl sacked three managers last season before appointing in Guimaraes, the coach of Costa Rica at the 2006 World Cup, to turn their fortunes around. Pagelsdorf, in his second season, has only a solitary win over the promoted Emirates. Meanwhile the promoted Baniyas travel to Ajman after recent giant killing performances including a win over the defending champions Al Ahli. Ajman's only success under Ze Mario was against Baniyas in the Etisalat Cup, but they are yet to win a point in the league and they now regroup under the caretaker coach Khalid Hosani

The Abu Dhabi club's Senegalese striker Andre Senghor says they are now better prepared to return with three points from Ajman. "We have had an excellent start and it doesn't surprise me because the quality of the players we have. I am very confident of three more points," he said. apassela@thenational.ae Ajman v Baniyas KO 4.55pm, Al Ain v Al Shabab KO 8pm

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

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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.”

Company profile

Name:​ One Good Thing ​

Founders:​ Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke​

Based in:​ Dubai​​ 

Sector:​ e-commerce​

Size: 5​ employees

Stage: ​Looking for seed funding

Investors:​ ​Self-funded and seeking external investors

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