Jamie Vardy of Leicester City celebrates scoring his team's second goal against Watford on Saturday in the Premier League. Tony Marshall / Getty Images / November 7, 2015
Jamie Vardy of Leicester City celebrates scoring his team's second goal against Watford on Saturday in the Premier League. Tony Marshall / Getty Images / November 7, 2015

Football

Jamie Vardy ‘started scoring from the beginning’ and hasn’t stopped for Leicester

'We have a very good spirit and a very good group' Claudio Ranieri said, lauding his Leicester City side on Saturday after a 2-1 win over Watford to keep them top-four.

Agece France Presse

November 08, 2015

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri praised his side's camaraderie as striker Jamie Vardy extended his goal-streak in a 2-1 win over Watford in the Premier League on Saturday.

It looked like Vardy’s run of eight goals in as many league games was about to end when, with Leicester leading 1-0 courtesy of N’Golo Kante’s second-half goal, the forward was brought down in the box by Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

Riyad Mahrez, Leicester’s usual penalty taker, then ceded spot-kick duties to England forward Vardy and the striker beat Brazil’s Gomes.

“We have a very good spirit and a very good group,” said Ranieri. “Jamie Vardy wanted to score and Riyad Mahrez gave the ball to him. It was good,” the Italian added.

“You know the strikers can take their moment. Sometimes for three, four, or five matches they don’t score then suddenly they start to score.

“For Jamie, he started scoring from the beginning, he’s in good condition and I hope he can continue,” said Ranieri after Vardy scored his 12th goal in as many league games this season.

By contrast, Kante’s goal was his first for Leicester

“Kante is a hard worker and he plays for all his team-mates,” said Ranieri of the French midfielder. “He runs a lot. He’s good and I’m very happy with him.

“He was struggling with the language (when he first arrived) but it was the same when I started at Chelsea. Football has only one language.”

Victory left Leicester in third place, level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City after their seventh win in 12 games.

However, avoiding relegation remains the immediate priority for Ranieri.

“We don’t change our focus. The sooner we achieve 40 points, then we can speak about other things. For now we target 40 points.”

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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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