Kansas City Chiefs are heading to the Super Bowl for the third time in four years after beating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 with a field goal three seconds from the end of the AFC Championship game on Sunday.
Harrison Butker converted the 45-yard game winner to grab the victory after Cincinnati – who had won their last 10 games – had threatened another comeback win.
The Chiefs, who had lost their last three meetings with Cincinnati including last year's AFC title game, will now meet the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl in Arizona on February 12.
Patrick Mahomes came into the game still nursing an ankle injury picked up in last week's divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Chiefs quarterback was less mobile than usual and ended the game limping at times, but was still able to deliver the key plays down the stretch and ensure Chiefs coach Andy Reid gets a meeting with his former team Philadelphia in the NFL's championship showpiece.
It was a trademark Mahomes scramble, albeit on a damaged ankle, that led to the decisive field goal.
"At some points in games, you've got to just put it all on the line," Mahomes, who threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, said.
"The defence gave us a couple chances to get in field goal range, we didn't get there. The defence got another stop for us and I knew I was going to get there somehow," he added.
After a Kansas City field goal opened the scoring, it was the Chiefs defence that made the first big impact on the game with three successive sacks of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
The Chiefs thought they had a touchdown early in the second quarter, but Isiah Pacheco's nine-yard rush was ruled out for holding and the resulting 10-yard penalty led to the Chiefs' having to settle for another field goal.
After a Bengals field goal, the Chiefs produced a touchdown from the familiar connection between Mahomes and Travis Kelce, with the quarterback rolling right and finding his tight end with a 14-yard pass.
The Bengals pushed into the red zone with an impressive drive at the end of the half, but the Chiefs defence held firm and forced another field goal, sending Kansas City in at the break with a 13-6 lead.
The Cincinnati offence sprung into life after the interval and tied up the score when Burrow went deep with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling then kept a Chiefs drive alive with a smart reach-out for a first down and the receiver finished off the 11-play, 77-yard drive, collecting a 19-yard pass down the middle from Mahomes.
But again the Bengals struck back.
Mahomes let the ball slip out of his hand while in his throwing motion and Sam Hubbard recovered the ball for the turnover. On the resulting possession, Burrow led the Bengals down the field on a drive that featured a 35-yard pass to Ja'marr Chase and Samaje Perine rushed up the middle for a two-yard touchdown to make it 20-20.
The Chiefs got the ball for the final time with 30 seconds left and with the pressure on, at third and four, Mahomes used his legs to make first down but after he ran out of bounds he was barged to the ground by Joseph Ossai.
The resulting 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness took the Chiefs within field goal distance and Butker did the rest.
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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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