One of African football’s most recognisable figures, former Nigeria player and coach Stephen Keshi, has died of a suspected heart attack, his family said on Wednesday. He was 54.
Keshi in 2013 led Nigeria’s Super Eagles to victory in the Africa Cup of Nations, and a year later took the side to the last 16 of the World Cup finals in Brazil.
Only he and Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary won the AFCON as player and coach.
Keshi’s brother, Emmanuel Ado, said the man affectionately dubbed “Big Boss” by fans and players for his leadership, died in Benin City in southern Nigeria, where he has a house and his wife is buried.
“Our son, brother, father, father-in-law, brother-in-law has gone to be his wife of 35 years, Mrs Kate Keshi, who passed on 9th December, 2015,” he said in a statement.
“Since her death, Keshi has been in mourning. He came back (from the United States, where he lived) to Nigeria to be with her.
“He had planned to fly back today, Wednesday, before he suffered a cardiac arrest. He has found rest. We thank God for his life.”
Photo gallery: Looking back on former Nigeria football coach and player Stephen Keshi
Ado told AFP later Keshi, whose wife died after a long battle with cancer, did not appear unwell and had recently been linked to a coaching job in South Africa.
A friend added: “We suspect he never got over the death of his wife.”
Tributes immediately began pouring in for Keshi. Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick said: “This is devastating. We have lost a superhero.”
The NFF was in touch with his family and had yet to decide on the best way to honour him, he said, but added a minute’s silence would be observed before all professional matches Wednesday.
FIFA’s new secretary-general Fatma Samoura, currently head of the UN Development Programme in Nigeria, tweeted: “The football family has lost a great member.”
Nigeria and Fenerbahce striker Emmanuel Emenike called Keshi a “true legend” and thanked him for his faith in him as a player.
“You will forever stay in my heart the big boss RIP,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Ghana Football Federation president Kwesi Nyantakyi described Keshi as “a great man and a noble spirit” and a “shining example of dedication to football and to footballers”.
“He was greatly admired by all and he will indeed be sorely missed,” Nyantakyi said in a statement, adding that flags would be flown at half-mast above GFF headquarters as a mark of respect.
South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan and coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba said they were “devastated” at the news.
As a player, Keshi sparked an exodus of Nigerian footballers to Belgium in the mid-1980s, joining Anderlecht before moving to French side Strasbourg and clubs in Malaysia and the United States.
The defender moved into coaching and took tiny Togo to the 2006 World Cup and was also in charge of Mali before he was called up by his home country in 2011.
Despite his success at national level, his time at the top was often fraught. Keshi complained in 2014 both he and his assistants had gone months without pay, forcing the government to step in.
After the AFCON triumph and the last World Cup his contract ran out but he was caught up in a protracted leadership struggle for control of the NFF.
He was sacked in October 2014 after a string of poor performances but the then-president Goodluck Jonathan reportedly stepped in to order his reinstatement.
In February 2015 he blasted the terms of a new deal as a “slave contract” before finally being sacked in July last year over reports he had touted himself for the vacant Ivory Coast job.
He had previously played there for Stade d’Abidjan and Africa Sports.
The dismissal came after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea.
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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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The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
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Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
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What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
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Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
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