Valencia's striker Alvaro Negredo (R) in action against Granada's defender Diego Mainz (L) during the Spanish King's Cup round of 16 first leg soccer match between Valencia CF and Granada CF at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia, eastern Spain, 06 January 2016. Manuel Bruque / EPA
Valencia's striker Alvaro Negredo (R) in action against Granada's defender Diego Mainz (L) during the Spanish King's Cup round of 16 first leg soccer match between Valencia CF and Granada CF at the MeShow more

Alvaro Negredo hat-trick as Valencia beat Granada Copa del Rey



Striker Alvaro Negredo scored a hat-trick, including two second half penalties, as Valencia thrashed Granada 4-0 in the first home leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 clash on Wednesday.

Negredo has been given a new lease of life under coach Gary Neville and the win was a confidence boost for Valencia who have yet to pick up a victory in La Liga under the former Manchester United and England player.

He robbed the ball off Diego Mainz and stroked it into the corner past keeper Ivan Kelava after seven minutes.

Santi Mina laid the second on a plate for Rodrigo Moreno and then Mina was fouled by Uche Agbo with Negredo scoring the subsequent penalty after 62 minutes.

Negredo, the former Manchester City player who has had appendicitis and was frozen out by former coach Nuno Espirito Santo, scored his third from the spot in the 83rd minute after he himself was fouled by Matheus Doria.

European club football half-time talk

Second half goals from Inaki Williams, Aritz Aduriz and Aymeric Laporte earlier saw Athletic Bilbao come from behind to beat high-flying Villarreal 3-2.

A confident Villarreal had won their previous five matches and went ahead through Leo Baptistao and Samu Garcia but Bilbao came back fighting after the break.

Baptistao slotted home clinically following a good team move after 16 minutes and Samu Castillejo then sent a defence splitting pass for Garcia, who rounded keeper Iago Herrerin and knocked the ball into an empty net.

Williams led the comeback with a 53rd minute strike, after being set up by Benat Etxebarria, and then found Aduriz to score from the centre of the penalty area.

Laporte completed the turnaround by converting a Benat free kick from a tight angle after 80 minutes.

A poor second half for Villarreal also saw the dismissal of Mario Gaspar with three minutes to go.

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  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.

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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.”

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