ABU DHABI // New York City Football Club’s David Villa has revealed to fans in the UAE how he is settling into life at the club – which is part of the City Football Group owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Villa, who was formerly at Barcelona, became the first man to score for the club at their home ground, the famous Yankee Stadium, during a 2-0 win against New England Revolution two weeks ago.
The club captain celebrated in front of 43,500 fans and is now looking ahead to the rest of the Major League Soccer (MLS) season.
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Villa, 33, said: “When I made this move it was something different in my career and an exciting challenge. For me, it’s important not only to settle into a new league but also a new country and culture.
“So far it’s going very well both on and off the field, I’m really enjoying training, playing and living in New York.”
Having spent his entire career in Spain before joining New York City FC, the striker is also embarking on learning a new language.
Responding to questions from football fans in the Middle East, he added: “I immediately started taking English lessons so I could communicate better with my teammates and the coaches.
“This is all very special and unique in my career. As a team we speak about the chance we have here to make history. It’s important we work hard but also enjoy the experience.
“I think we all feel lucky to be part of this project. It’s not easy bringing a whole new team together and we must be patient.”
New York City FC is the 20th franchise to join the MLS. The league has doubled in size from the ten teams that competed during the inaugural season in 1996 and is now attracting bigger crowds than some of the more established US sports.
It was May 2013 when it was announced that City Football Group and the New York Yankees were to invest in creating a football club for New Yorkers with David Villa being the first player the club signed, and the Spaniard knows that he has a big role to play.
Villa said: “We are seeing more and more excellent players come to MLS and this is good for the fans and for the league. It is always important to have players with good experience playing for US clubs.
“I think it is important to see more US players doing well. I think in Mix Diskerud we have a fantastic young player who American fans are excited to watch.
“We also have a team which is full of experienced MLS players and four players from New York which is an amazing opportunity for us to get even closer to our fans.”
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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.”
The biog
Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
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