The UAE has played host to a variety of one-off events in major sports from abroad, some more successful than others.
1 Collingwood v Adelaide, Australian Rules Nab Cup, 2008, Dubai
Collingwood took advantage of their new sponsorship deal with Emirates Airline by taking a Nab Cup fixture basically a glorified pre-season friendly to Dubai five years ago.
Given that the sport is barely played or followed at any great level beyond Australia, it was perhaps surprisingly well received.
Around 6,000 people made the journey to the polo club in Ghantoot, where temporary scaffolding stands were erected for the occasion.
For all the exposure they received, though, the venture was a nightmarish one on the field for the drivers of it.
Collingwood, who had a number of players struggling with a virus, were thumped 136-55 by the Crows.
2 Brazil v Iran, international football friendly, 2010, Abu Dhabi
A match that was held at Zayed Sports City on nine days' notice after the original venue chosen by the organisers, a Swiss managements company, fell through.
Kentaro own the rights to a series of Brazil national team matches and take the Selecao to many and varied places to play as part of what they term the Brazil World Tour.
This game against Iran attracted perhaps 20,000 supporters, who struggled to make their presence felt in the large national stadium.
Brazil won 3-0, then had to hastily pack their bags for the next stop on their globe-trotting tour.
It was something of a comedown after Abu Dhabi, though: four days later, they were playing Ukraine in Derby, in the English Midlands.
3 India v Pakistan, DLF Cup cricket, 2006, Abu Dhabi
Cricket and the UAE go together like jam and toast. Even though national teams of great repute have only been sporadic visitors there in recent times, Sharjah has still hosted more one-day internationals than any other venue in the world.
The matches staged at the country's oldest cricket venue between India and Pakistan remain some of the most thrilling and enduring in the history of sport in this country.
And yet, because of India's unwillingness to play bilateral series in neutral territories, encounters between the two foes have been sadly absent from these shores since two ODIs seven years ago.
That brief series, staged to inaugurate the new Zayed Cricket Stadium in the capital and attended by the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, was halved.
4 London Wasps v Harlequins, LV Cup, rugby union, 2011, Abu Dhabi
Yes, this was a competitive fixture, but only really in name. The LV Cup formerly known as the Anglo-Welsh Cup is the lowest strata of senior competition in UK top-flight rugby, and many teams use it to try out young players.
The odd thing about this game was it was designated as a home fixture for London Wasps. Their opponents, Harlequins, had roots in the city in the form of their Abu Dhabi affiliate club of the same name.
As such, when it came to game time, few in the 5,000 strong crowd on the lawn of the Emirates Palace, had a fixed idea who they were supporting. It made for an odd ambience.
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INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
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QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1 minute, 35.246 seconds.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Mercedes, 1:35.271.
3. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mercedes, 1:35.332.
4. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.497.
5. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1:35.571.
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.815.
7. Daniil Kvyat, Russia, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:35.963.
8. Lance Stroll, Canada, Racing Point BWT Mercedes, 1:36.046.
9. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 1:36.065.
10. Pierre Gasly, France, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:36.242.
Eliminated after second session
11. Esteban Ocon, France, Renault, 1:36.359.
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Renault, 1:36.406.
13. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Ferrari, 1:36.631.
14. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:38.248.
Eliminated after first session
15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.075.
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.555.
17. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas Ferrari, 1:37.863.
18. George Russell, Great Britain, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.045.
19. Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazil, Haas Ferrari, 1:38.173.
20. Nicholas Latifi, Canada, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.443.
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Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
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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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