The statue of Lenin in the city square at Donetsk has been a little lonelier as the Euro 2012's conclusion approaches.
The statue of Lenin in the city square at Donetsk has been a little lonelier as the Euro 2012's conclusion approaches.
The statue of Lenin in the city square at Donetsk has been a little lonelier as the Euro 2012's conclusion approaches.
The statue of Lenin in the city square at Donetsk has been a little lonelier as the Euro 2012's conclusion approaches.

Euro 2012: Locals try to cash in as game checks out


Paul Radley
  • English
  • Arabic

DONETSK, Ukraine // Got tickets?

OK, then what about having your face painted?

We will give you a good price.

Wednesday's final Euro 2012 encounter at the Donbass Arena in the west of Ukraine was ushered in with the feeling a closing down sale.

There have been five matches played at this spectacular ground over the course of 17 days.

For local entrepreneurs, this was the last chance to make some extras funds.

Even the ticket touts were multi-tasking.

When they failed to shift the clods of tickets they had in their hands, some of them switched to decorating faces instead.

They had a fair bit of red paint to get through.

They obviously had failed to grasp the concept of cutting prices to make a sale, however, judging by the swathes of empty seats there were inside the ground.

The anticipated rush never came.

The local tourism authority had been quoted in Ukrainian media on the day of the game as predicting 50,000 foreign visitors would descend on Donetsk for the game, with 130 specially chartered flights landing at the city' small airport.

They must have all gone to the wrong ground, then.

Perhaps the Shakhtar Stadium, at the southern end of town, was inundated with supporters wondering where Spain and Portugal were.

The vacant black and orange seats were bad enough eyesores, but the absentees even managed to ruin Uefa's best laid plans.

The spectators were tasked with holding up placards before kick off to help spread the word about the governing body's "Respect" campaign.

It was missing most of the "p", some of the second "e" and some of the "c", too.

End of term at this tournament has come at the right time for in this particular city.

Most supporters seem demob happy about the prospect of getting away.

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma

When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

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Wednesday
Poland v Portugal 10.45pm
Russia v Sweden 10.45pm

Friday
Belgium v Switzerland 10.45pm
Croatia v England 10.45pm

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Netherlands v Germany 10.45pm
Rep of Ireland v Denmark 10.45pm

Sunday
Poland v Italy 10.45pm

Monday
Spain v England 10.45pm

Tuesday
France v Germany 10.45pm
Rep of Ireland v Wales 10.45pm

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Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

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UAE’s fixtures: Fri Apr 20, UAE v Qatar; Sat Apr 21, UAE v Saudi Arabia; Mon Apr 23, UAE v Bahrain; Tue Apr 24, UAE v Maldives; Thu Apr 26, UAE v Kuwait

World T20 2020 Qualifying process:

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World T20 standings: 1 Pakistan; 2 Australia; 3 India; 4 New Zealand; 5 England; 6 South Africa; 7 West Indies; 8 Sri Lanka; 9 Afghanistan; 10 Bangladesh; 11 Scotland; 12 Zimbabwe; 13 UAE; 14 Netherlands; 15 Hong Kong; 16 Papua New Guinea; 17 Oman; 18 Ireland

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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.”