Khalil's call for support

CAIRO// Ahmed Khalil has urged Egyptian fans to get behind the UAE in tonight's quarter-final match to help them avenge the home team's loss to Costa Rica in the previous round. Costa Rica knocked out Egypt out with a 2-0 win in the second round on Tuesday night and Khalil is hoping the disappointed fans will turn their allegiance to the UAE.

"I hoping we will get the same number of enthusiastic supporters that came to the stadium for the Egypt game in the second round," he said. "Their support will be crucial in helping avenge the loss of our Egyptian brothers and carry the Arab flag into the semi-finals of the tournament." The home fans did not seem to have much of an impact on the Costa Ricans in the second round. The Concacaf champions stayed calm to complete an impressive turnaround after losing 5-0 to Brazil in their opening group game.

Qualifying for the second round with just one victory - a 3-0 win over Australia - they have reached the last-eight stage of a tournament for the first time in seven attempts. Confidence is high in their camp and Khalil, the Asian Youth Player of the Year, warned the UAE will need a lot more than just crowd support to upstage the dogged Central Americans. More specifically, they will need more goals from their strikers.

The UAE have one of the most attacking threats in the competition with 59 shots on goal in four games, but have managed to convert just five chances. Khalil himself has been guilty of wasting many opportunities. "I know I have not done as well as I would have liked," said the Al Ahli striker, who scored the 83rd- minute winner against Venezuela in the 2-1 win on Wednesday. "The problem is that some people expect me to score in every game, which is impossible.

"Hopefully I will be able to score, but that is not the most important thing for me - the most important thing is to win the game and reach the semi-finals." This is the UAE's third appearance at the Under 20 World Cup and they reached the quarter- finals on home soil in 2003. They seek to improve on that showing, but will be without the services of the impressive Theyab Awana on the wing and Mohammed Fayez in defence as both are suspended after collecting two bookings.

Mahdi Ali, the UAE coach, is confident that he has the strength in depth to get the job done. "It would have been better to have all the players, but our players are at the same level," he said. "We have still not played at our best yet and I'm hoping we can do that in this game. The players know what we need and are determined. The fans will be our 12th man: all things are going for us." The Costa Rica coach, Ronald Gonzalez, is equally confident.

"The UAE are a good side, with strong technical skills," he said. "If we play like we did against Egypt we have nothing to fear. We are enjoying our time here and we are staying in a spectacular hotel: they don't want to check out early." @Email:arizvi@thenational.ae UAE v Costa Rica, 10pm, Abu Dhabi Sports 1

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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.”