The Asian Tour announced a major shake-up of its board of directors on Wednesday, hard on the heels of its CEO’s resignation after deep divisions emerged over a proposed tie-up with Europe’s golf body.
Former European Tour chief executive Ken Schofield was among those to lose his seat as four prominent Asian businessmen were named as non-playing directors of the region’s main golf organisation.
In a statement sent to AFP, three player members were also removed and Asian Tour chairman Kyi Hla Han was named as “interim Tour Commissioner”.
No reasons were given for the sweeping changes, which follow fierce debate over plans to merge the Asian and European Tours’ business dealings and memberships and create a mega-tour straddling the two continents.
Some Asian pros have voiced concerns that they will lose opportunities to play and make a living as they are squeezed out of tournament spots by European rivals.
Of the four new non-playing directors, two are from companies – Yeangder and ICTSI – who hold title sponsorships for Asian Tour tournaments.
“The quartet are prominent businessmen and industry leaders in their respective countries, avid golfers and have the desire and vision to grow the Asian Tour,” said the statement, which did not refer to the merger.
Schofield had been on the board since 2011. Also gone are long-standing director and Hong Kong-based Canadian businessman Rick Siemens, who was appointed in 2005, and Gautam Thapar, founder of India’s Avanthar Group.
In comes Taiwan’s Emmet Hsu, chairman of the Yeangder Group – sponsors of the Asian Tour’s Tournament Players Championship which carries a prize purse of $500,000 (Dh1.8m).
Joining him is Enrique K Razon Jr who is chairman of Philippines container company ICTSI – the sponsor of this week’s $300,000 Philippines Open.
The other two new directors are Jimmy Masrin, president and CEO of Indonesian chemicals and mining firm PT Caturkarsa Megatunggal, and Jaturon Himathongkom, sports marketing director for Thai brewing giant Singha Corp.
Han’s new duties as interim commissioner will include “enhancing the playing opportunities for its members”, the statement said.
The board shake-up follows last week’s announcement that Asian Tour chief executive Mike Kerr, a strong supporter of the merger, had resigned for undisclosed reasons.
Among the playing directors, only Chinese veteran Zhang Lianwei survives with Lam Chih-Bing of Singapore, Australia’s Scott Barr and Thailand’s Boonchu Ruangkit all out.
Zhang has been joined by senior Indian player and EurAsia Cup captain Jeev Milkha Singh, with two more playing directors set to be nominated by the tournament players committee.
Lam, one of the playing directors to leave the board, said earlier this month that he was in favour of the merger but was facing opposition from fellow players.
"Since the merger proposal I have been having a difficult time convincing players of the merits of the union," he told Singapore's New Paper.
“I feel that there are benefits from the merger, but some players still feel that it is not a good move. Because of this my golf has been suffering, so I felt I should step down and concentrate on my game.”
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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.”
