Miguel Angel Jimenez is in search of his fourth Ryder Cup cap.
Miguel Angel Jimenez is in search of his fourth Ryder Cup cap.

Golf

Jimenez seeks Ryder Cup insurance at Gleneagles

The Spaniard, who won the Dubai Desert Classic this year, will miss his nephew's wedding to play at the Johnny Walker Championship.

Miguel Angel Jimenez has changed his mind and will now play this week's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles to try to secure a fourth Ryder Cup cap. The Spaniard, 46, sent his manager Sarah Phillips a text message last night after Peter Hanson's victory at the Czech Open knocked him down into the ninth and last automatic qualifying spot with one week left. Jimenez had planned to be at his nephew's wedding on Saturday, but it will now go ahead without him ? unless, of course, he misses the cut in Scotland. The Dubai Desert Classic and French Open champion played with Hanson in the final round, but dropped from second to seventh with a disappointing 73. By staying in the top 10, though, he became eligible for this week's tournament without having to seek a sponsor's invitation ? as Hanson did last Monday.

"Basically Miguel feels that this is quite likely to be his last opportunity to play in the match," Phillips said. "He looked at the points situation on his flight back to Malaga and then texted me to say he was going to play. "One of the players who can pass him would do so if he wasn't there, so he wants to give himself the best opportunity." Should Jimenez fail to add to his total he could be overtaken by the English pair Ross McGowan and Simon Dyson or by his compatriot Alvaro Quiros. McGowan needs a top two finish to have a chance, while Dyson and Quiros have to win on Sunday.

Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald could also have qualified, but have controversially chosen to stay in America and play the first of the FedEx Cup play-off series. That tournament does not count in the cup race and along with Justin Rose and the Scottish Open champion Edoardo Molinari they all need one of captain Colin Montgomerie's three wild cards ? which they cannot all have, of course. What Jimenez's decision also means is that Molinari's brother and World Cup-winning partner Francesco is suddenly not quite sure of his first cap yet. He currently stands seventh, but could drop out of the top nine if McGowan wins, Jimenez is in the first six and Hanson in the first 10.

Jimenez's first involvement in the Ryder Cup was as assistant to Seve Ballesteros at Valderrama in 1997. Two years later he made his debut and he also played in 2004 and two years ago, when Jim Furyk's victory over him sealed America's win. * Press Association

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.”

Company Profile

Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed

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Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government