Milan optimistic over Beckham move

The AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said last night that the club was closer to completing David Beckham's transfer from the Los Angeles Galaxy. "In the past few hours we have taken steps forward," Galliani told La Gazzetta dello Sport after arriving back in Milan following the team's 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday. There have been conflicting reports in the past few days over the state of the negotiations following the expiration of last Friday's Major League Soccer-imposed deadline. It is now being suggested that next Tuesday is the most likely day for the deal to be completed. Milan's owner, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, later said he was hopeful that the England international would remain at his club. Speaking after a meeting with British prime minister Gordon Brown, Berlusconi said: "I would like it if he stays with Milan because his passing is essential."

On the pitch, a late equaliser from Bremen's Brazilian international Diego denied AC Milan victory. The midfielder Diego rewarded a strong second-half display from the Bundesliga side six minutes from time by controlling Hugo Almeida's header with his chest before firing past Dida to secure a 1-1 draw. Filippo Inzaghi had put competition favourites Milan ahead on 36 minutes, the striker firing in a rebound after his own header from Mathieu Flamini's cross had been blocked. The holders Zenit St Petersburg began life without influential playmaker Andrei Arshavin by defeating VfB Stuttgart 2-1. Arshavin, instrumental in Zenit's first European triumph last year, completed a move to Arsenal earlier this month. The Ukraine international Anatoliy Tymoschuk blasted the Russian side 2-1 ahead in first-half stoppage time with a fierce shot after latching on to Danny's pass. New signing Szabolcs Huszti had fired Zenit ahead on his debut after two minutes, the Hungarian international pouncing on a rebound before Mario Gomez grabbed an away goal. The competition's leading scorer Vagner Love took his tally to nine this season with a first-half goal in CSKA Moscow's 1-1 draw in Birmingham with Aston Villa. Brazilian Love worked a one-two with strike partner Alan Dzagoyev before advancing to fire past keeper Brad Guzan and hand CSKA a 14th-minute lead. Norwegian striker John Carew capped a sustained spell of Villa pressure to sweep in the equaliser on 69 minutes. St Etienne secured an impressive 3-1 away win at Olympiakos Piraeus. Valencia drew 1-1 in Ukraine against Dynamo Kiev, Paris St Germain's striker Guillaume Hoarau scored twice in the final 10 minutes in a 2-0 home victory over VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburg SV all but booked their last 16 place after easing to a 3-0 win away to NEC Nijmegen. The final will be staged in Istanbul on May 20. sports@thenational.ae

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UAE tour of Zimbabwe

All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I

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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

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.”