Rome // Fiorentina returned to the top of the Serie A table on Sunday with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Frosinone as Napoli squandered their chance to grab pole position with a 0-0 draw at Genoa.
Paulo Sousa’s Fiorentina scored all their goals in the first half at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
They replaced Inter Milan who had briefly gone top on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Roma who in turn had led going into the weekend.
Sousa opted to make several changes to his starting XI, resting leading scorer Nikola Kalinic in order to allow Mati Fernandez to play behind Khouma Babacar.
Newly-promoted minnows Frosinone handed goalkeeper Massimo Zappino his top-flight debut, and the Viola ensured he was heavily involved in the action.
Yet after making an early save from Babacar, the 34-year-old was unable to prevent a cross from Ante Rebic bouncing in off the frame of his goal following a deflection.
If there was some fortune to Fiorentina’s opener, there was little doubt of the quality of the second as Gonzalo Rodriguez netted with a sublime back-heeled effort.
Babacar got on the scoresheet with a chipped penalty before Mario Suarez stole the ball and slotted past Zappino with ease.
After the break, Fiorentina understandably eased the pressure on their mismatched opponents, eventually allowing Frosinone midfielder Alessandro Frara a late consolation goal.
“I have always said we can compete with anyone and that means we can compete for the Scudetto,” Sousa told Mediaset Premium after the game.
“We must always be competitive and I believe our Scudetto must be continually seeking a winning mentality.”
Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli are fourth, two points behind Fiorentina after a frustrating 0-0 draw at Genoa.
Napoli had won their five previous league fixtures, but benched Lorenzo Insigne following his outburst after being substituted in their midweek clash with Palermo.
The home side had goalkeeper Mattia Perin to thank as he made some remarkable saves to keep Napoli at bay, Jose Callejon testing him early on before Dries Mertens struck the post.
It was a hard-earned point for Genoa, particularly as they lost both Blerim Dzemaili and Ezequiel Munoz to injury in the first half.
After the restart, Sarri introduced both Insigne and Manolo Gabbiadini in search of a winning goal, but it never came.
“We created many scoring opportunities, it’s just a shame about the result,” a disappointed Sarri told MediaSet Premium.
Sinisa Mihijlovic’s AC Milan notched their third consecutive victory away to Lazio to go into sixth place.
The Rossoneri ran out 3-1 winners at the Stadio Olimpico thanks to goals from Andrea Bertolacci, Philippe Mexes and Carlos Bacca.
Bologna notched only their third win of the campaign, seeing off Atalanta 3-0 thanks to goals from Emanuele Giaccherini, Mattia Destro and Franco Brienza.
On Saturday, Inter downed 10-man Roma 1-0 with Gary Medel scoring the game’s only goal, meaning they now trail Fiorentina in the table only by virtue of their inferior goal difference.
Reigning champions Juventus beat Turin rivals Torino 2-1 thanks to an injury time winner from on-loan Chelsea winger Juan Cuadrado.
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In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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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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