London // If Manchester City are to outwit Real Madrid in the Uefa Champions League semi-finals, goalkeeper Joe Hart may need to produce another of his bravura displays in the competition.
The England international, 29, was decisive in City’s quarter-final victory over Paris Saint-Germain, repelling a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty in the first leg and keeping a clean sheet in the second as City reached the last four for the first time.
As one of only three players to have known life before the club’s Emirati takeover in 2008 -- Pablo Zabaleta and captain Vincent Kompany being the others -- he is particularly sensitive to the effect that European success can have on City’s international standing.
“You’ve got to do well in Europe to get that label (of a big European club),” says Hart, whose side host Madrid in the first leg of their semi-final on Tuesday.
“It’s a really difficult tournament, but we’ve got to believe we can win it. Otherwise there’s no point in turning up.”
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Following successive group-phase exits and then two consecutive last-16 eliminations at Barcelona’s hands, Hart is a member of a core group of City players -- along with Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero -- who have led the club into new European territory this season.
In doing so, the strapping blond shot-stopper has advanced his cause to be regarded alongside Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer and Juventus veteran Gianluigi Buffon as one of the greats of modern goalkeeping.
For despite two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and two League Cups with City, as well as 57 caps for England, there is not yet wide consensus that his name belongs in such exalted company.
A City regular since 2007, barring a season on loan at Birmingham City in 2009-10, when Shay Given was in favour at the Etihad Stadium, Hart has had to fend off accusations of arrogance in the past.
Memorably, Andrea Pirlo’s explanation for his brazen chipped spot-kick past Hart in Italy’s Euro 2012 quarter-final penalty shootout win over England was that the grandstanding City man “had to get off his high horse”.
In 2013-14, Hart experienced the biggest low of his career to date when he was dropped by City manager Manuel Pellegrini for the best part of two months following a succession of spectacular blunders.
But he showed no signs of unease on his return to the team and finished the season with the Premier League’s Golden Glove, awarded to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets and which he has now won four times, as well as a championship medal.
The Champions League has at times been a steep learning curve for City, but playing against seasoned elite-level contenders has given Hart a chance to shine.
Against eventual champions Barcelona last season, he pulled off 10 saves in a 1-0 second-leg defeat at Camp Nou, which moved Lionel Messi -- whose penalty he had saved in the first leg -- to brand him a “phenomenon”.
“He saved everything,” said the awestruck Argentine, while Barcelona coach Luis Enrique described Hart’s display as “incredible”.
When City lined up against Juventus, last season’s beaten finalists, in September, Buffon said “you won’t think of a better goalkeeper in the world”.
Hart was close to impeccable against PSG in the quarter-finals, with a Peter Schmeichel-style starfish save to thwart Edinson Cavani late in the second leg serving to kill off the French champions for good.
Having seen Willy Caballero, his deputy in cup competitions, steal the headlines by saving three penalties in February’s League Cup final penalty shootout win over Liverpool, Hart has extra motivation to make a difference against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Madrid.
The Spanish giants’ last visit to the Etihad, in November 2012, saw them record a 1-1 draw that eliminated City from the competition.
Three and a half years on, City are a cannier, wiser team, but Hart remains the man to beat.
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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.”
