DUBAI // Argentine Edgardo Bauza will be officially presented on Thursday night as the UAE’s new national team manager.
The former Argentina manager, who was dismissed last month after only eight months in charge, is understood to have accepted a contract that runs until the conclusion of the 2019 Asian Cup, which takes place in the Emirates from January 5 to February 1.
Bauza, 59, arrived in Dubai on Tuesday and met with members of the UAE Football Association the following day to conclude negotiations. He replaces in the role Mahdi Ali, who resigned on March 28, immediately after the crucial World Cup qualifying defeat to Australia in Sydney. The Emirati had held the position since August 2012.
The FA had always considered Bauza a primary target, but the former defender rejected an initial offer last month. However, once complications arose regarding a move for Colombian Reinaldo Rueda, the FA returned to Bauza. He will be presented as the national team manager at a press conference at the FA’s headquarters in Al Khawaneej.
In his new role, Bauza is tasked with first helping the UAE reach next summer’s World Cup – the team currently sit fourth in Group B in the final stage of qualification – with the Gulf Cup later this year and the 2019 Asian Cup representing longer-term objectives. His first match in charge will be next month’s must-win World Cup qualifier in Thailand on June 13.
Bauza will seek to rebound from a chastening eight months with Argentina from August last year. During that time, he guided the 2014 World Cup finalists to only three victories in eight matches, a run that pulled the side to fifth in the Conmebol section for Russia 2018 – one spot outside automatic qualification.
Bauza has experienced significant success at club level, though, having led Ecuador’s LDU Quito and Argentina’s San Lorenzo to win the Copa Libertadores, the highest club prize in South American football, in 2008 and 2014. He has some first-hand knowledge of Gulf football, too, after a brief stint spent at Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr in 2009.
Bauza has less than five weeks to get the UAE ready for that crucial qualifier against Thailand in Bangkok. At present, the national team lie seven points off the automatic qualification spots, with three matches remaining. The UAE also sit four points back from Australia in third, the position that guarantees entry into a series of play-offs to make the World Cup.
After bottom-placed Thailand, the UAE host Saudi Arabia, the group’s joint-leaders, in Abu Dhabi on August 31 before potentially concluding their campaign on September 5, against Iraq in Tehran.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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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.”
