Cristiano Ronaldo storms off pitch as Al Nassr title hopes dented

Rivals Al Ittihad opened a three-point gap over Al Nassr at the top of the table as they beat Al-Wehda 2-1. There are seven games left to play in this season's championship.

Al Nassr had 18 attempts on goal against Al Feiha and 38-year-old Ronaldo, who joined the club on a deal said to be worth more than $200 million a year, struck a shot straight at opposition keeper Vladimir Stojkovic in the 68th minute.

Ronaldo, who has scored 11 goals in 10 league games for Al Nassr, then fired twice over the bar in the space of six minutes. Brazilian Anderson Talisca, the league's top scorer, also had a frustrating outing.

Ronaldo looked furious as he left the pitch and removed his captain's armband and exchanged angry words with an opposition player.

Al Nassr coach Rudi Garcia said he was unhappy with both the performance and the result.

"The result is definitely bad and we are not happy," the French coach told the Saudi Sports Company.

"I don’t feel satisfied with the players' performance. I asked them to play at the same level as the last game (in the 5-0 victory against Al Adalah), but this didn’t happen."

Al Nassr, who last won the title in 2019, will play a crunch game next week against Al Hilal, the defending champions who sit fourth in the table, which may go a long way to deciding the race for the title.

"There are seven games left, we will try to recover, and we realise that it’s not easy after we lost two points, but everything is possible," said Garcia.

Al Feiha posted on Twitter an edited image of their captain Sami Al Khaibari sitting in front of Ronaldo at a chess table, reflecting a famous advertisement featuring rivals Lionel Messi and Cristiano.

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.”

Cristiano Ronaldo storms off pitch as Al Nassr title hopes dented

Club slip three points behind Saudi Pro League leaders Al Ittihad after goalless draw with Al Feiha