MATCH INFO
CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures
Tuesday:
Primeiro Agosto (ANG) v Esperance (TUN) (8pm UAE)
Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)
Second legs:
October 23
Al Ahly of Egypt hope to get in front while Esperance of Tunisia do not want to fall behind when they face contrasting CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg challenges on Tuesday.
Record eight-time winners Ahly host Entente Setif of Algeria, who surprisingly eliminated defending champions Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in the quarter-finals.
Esperance are away to Primeiro Agosto of Angola, the shock last-eight conquerors of five-time African champions TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Setif and Esperance have won the elite CAF competition twice each, leaving Primeiro as the only survivors not to lift the trophy that symbolises African club supremacy and guarantees a spot in December's Fifa Club World Cup to be held in Abu Dhabi.
No Angolan club has reached the Champions League final and Primeiro are just the second side after Petro Atletico in 2001 to make the penultimate stage.
But Serbian manager Zoran Manojlovic believes the Luanda outfit can go all the way to the title decider.
"We will reach the final of the Champions League," he said. "My players are very humble and very hard workers and we know more or less the strengths and weaknesses of Esperance."
Ahly first won the competition in 1982 and most recently in 2013 when legend Mohamed Aboutrika retired after scoring in the final against Orlando Pirates of South Africa.
Esperance were African champions in 1994 and 2011 and Setif succeeded in 1988 and 2014, and both clubs regularly compete in continental competitions.
Pundits are predicting an Ahly-Esperance final, but Setif and Primeiro must have developed a lot of confidence from their quarter-finals triumphs.
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Primeiro v Esperance is a pairing no one outside of Angola would have predicted with Primeiro consistently poor performers in recent Champions League campaigns.
And while Esperance have had much better results, many believe five CAF titles is not a great return given the number of local and international stars who have played for them.
That Primeiro are in the semi-finals after notching only 13 goals in 12 matches is remarkable with leading scorer Jacques Bitumba managing a meagre tally of four.
He, fellow attacker Lompala Bokamba and centre-back Muselenge Ungenda hail from DR Congo and striker Ibukun Akinfenwa and defender Kehinde Anifowoshe are Nigerians.
Most Angolan footballers prefer Brazil-style nicknames so creative midfielder Hermenegildo da Costa Paulo Bartolomeu is known as Geraldo, no doubt to the relief of commentators.
Esperance also have their share of foreigners, including Ivorian Fousseny Coulibaly, Cameroonian Franck Kom and Algerian Mohamed Belaili in midfield.
Meanwhile, a French coach, a Malian centre-back and a Moroccan striker have played key roles in the revival of Ahly after they were in danger of becoming high-profile group casualties.
The Cairo club took only a point from a possible six before French-born Patrice Carteron replaced Hossam el Badry and delivered five victories and a draw.
His first signing was veteran Mali defender Salif Coulibaly, who has not only stabilised the defence but also scored twice, including the winner in a key group match.
Most of the goals, though, have come from Moroccan Walid Azaro, who has bagged six in the Champions League this season, four more than any teammate.
Setif made an even worse start to the group phase than Ahly, losing twice, but since then have gone six matches unbeaten under Moroccan Rachid Taoussi.
Goalkeeper Mustapha Zeghba was outstanding in a 0-0 second-leg draw at Wydad Casablanca and he is set to face an equally busy time at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo.
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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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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.”
MATCH INFO
CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures
Tuesday:
Primeiro Agosto (ANG) v Esperance (TUN) (8pm UAE)
Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)
Second legs:
October 23
