International break disrupts Scolari’s Guangzhou plans for ACL final with Al Ahli

China’s desperation to improve on the international level is playing havoc with Guangzhou Evergrande coach Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Asian Champions League aspirations.

The 2002 World Cup-winning coach arrived in Guangzhou in June to succeed Fabio Cannavaro and, last week, took the big-spending club to Dubai for a 0-0 draw on Saturday against Al Ahli in the first leg of the 2015 Asian Champions League final.

The second leg takes place in Guangzhou on November 21. That would usually provide plenty of time to prepare, especially as the Chinese domestic season ended in October with a fifth successive domestic title for the star-studded Evergrande, but Scolari has a major headache.

MORE ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NEWS

[ Luiz Felipe Scolari says ‘Second leg will be a fight’ in Asian Champions League final ]

[ ‘We are very confident of going to Guangzhou’ says Al Ahli’s Habib Fardan ]

[ Al Ahli fans remain confident of ACL success as lack of goals fails to dampen sense of occasion ]

China coach Alain Perrin has included eight Guangzhou players in his 23-man squad ahead of two vital Group C World Cup qualifiers, against Bhutan in Changsa tomorrow and in Hong Kong five days later.

“After we return to Guangzhou, I must first wait 12 or 13 days for the players to come back from the national team as they must first play for the national team and then I will make adjustments then begin preparations for the second leg of the Champions Cup final,” Scolari said after the first leg in Dubai.

Guangzhou will also be without star defender Kim Yong-gwon, who was called up to the South Korean national team.

In this, the second and penultimate round of World Cup qualification in Asia, only the winner of each of the eight groups can be certain of a place in the final round. They will be joined by the best four runners-up. These 12 nations will compete for the continent’s four automatic spots at the 2018 World Cup.

China’s chances of finishing first look remote. They are already eight points behind group leaders Qatar, although they have four games remaining, one more than the 2022 World Cup hosts.

After hosting Bhutan in a game that even the unpredictable China are expected to win comfortably, Perrin takes his men to the former British colony of Hong Kong for a high-pressure, high-profile game at a time when political relations between the mainland and its Special Administrative Region are uneasy.

The teams drew 0-0 in China in September and tensions have risen after Hong Kong fans booed the Chinese national anthem at a number of recent games.

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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.”

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888